Black Cloaks, Red Clouds
by Archontruth
Summary: In a world where Orochimaru is Hokage and the Hidden Villages are ruled by tyrants, Tenten finds the lines between ally and enemy blurring when a desperate strategy lands her in the company of enigmatic strangers who wear black cloaks with red clouds. DeiTen and NejiTen. Contains adult themes.
1. Sacrifice Play

**Chapter 1: Sacrifice Play**

* * *

_Pain._

Tenten's eyes drifted open, and her fuzzy thoughts grasped for the hope that the last few months were all a bad dream. Those hopes were dashed when the bare stone walls and uncaring steel door of the prison cell she occupied swam into focus.

_Pain._

Tenten's back was on fire. She shifted slightly from where she lay on her stomach on the cold stone floor, and the pain intensified as the movement tugged at the fresh scabs covering the crisscrossing slashes from shoulder to waist left by the agonizing kiss of a whip. That pain had become an old friend. A horrific tracery of lash marks bore testament to repeated beatings, new cuts crossing over healing scars. Between her legs, Tenten ached fiercely, from… her mind skittered away from those memories. Madness lay that way, and she was clinging to sanity by a thread.

_Pain._

Tenten lay still, taking shallow breaths and trying not to move; moving hurt too much. Moving reminded her of the fresh wounds, the recent scars, the bone-deep bruises and cracked ribs. Her mouth was as dry as the deserts that surrounded Sunagakure, and hunger gnawed at her gut like a feral animal trying to escape. Food and water had stopped arriving through the slit beneath the cell door two days ago. When she'd realized that nothing was coming and she wasn't hearing any footsteps outside she'd fought the pain long enough to crawl to the door and pound on it with the hand that had the fewest broken fingers, yelling with a voice gone hoarse from screaming. No one had responded. _No one was coming._

_Pain._

Tenten's eyes slid shut; she lacked the energy to keep them open but hurt too much to sleep. Almost immediately images filled the darkness behind her eyelids. The hallucinations had started the night before, and they were only becoming more vivid. Now when Tenten closed her eyes, and sometimes even when they were open, the lines between the past and the present blurred.

Tenten was four years old, standing outside her father's forge, watching with wide eyes as her papa taught her older brothers his trade, turning molten metal into ninja tools, folding steel thousands of times to produce fine blades. She was eight years old, attending the ninja academy. Not a clan heir or a daughter of privilege, just a girl with enough chakra to enroll and a dream of being more than a wife and a mother. Tenten was twelve, fighting tears as Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee outclassed her and her sensei Maito Gai questioned her dedication to being a kunoichi. She was fourteen, accepting her chuunin vest from the Hokage, and the congratulations of a sensei who no longer doubted her resolve. She was seventeen, battered, bruised and defiant, standing on her feet at the end of the combat trials of the jounin exams, victorious.

Then Tenten would blink, and once again she was eighteen and slowly dying of dehydration, alone and in pain and trapped in a cell of stone and steel that would soon be her grave.

_Pain_.

The cell's steel door swung open. Tenten just stared, truly unafraid. What more could her captors do to her? A tall man with long, dark hair and a full face mask stepped into the cell. Her vision blurred, and she couldn't make out the design carved on it. Her mind fuzzy, Tenten wondered who this was. None of her captors that she'd seen wore a full face mask.

"Tenten!" He said, sounding surprised and… relieved? That wasn't right. The terrorists who had captured and tortured her for information – the Akatsuki, they called themselves – all knew her name, but none of them cared enough to speak it. The masked man leaned closer. She glanced at the tool pouch on his belt, full of kunai and shuriken. Was he there to give her a quick death, at least? One small mercy from the merciless?

"Tenten, thank kami you're alive!" The man tugged his mask off, his waist-length hair cascading over her as he did so, and when he drew the mask away he revealed happy, concerned pale eyes, eyes with no pupils that nonetheless saw everything. "Neji?" she whispered, her voice a raspy croak. Seeing his face was the cruelest hallucination yet.

Then Tenten could feel him. His arms wrapped around her and he drew her close, careless of the dirt, blood and filth on her skin staining his uniform and the stink of the cell and her unwashed body. "Aah!" she groaned in pain as the movement tore a few of the scabs on her back open, triggering fresh bleeding. Sensing her pain Neji drew back and she watched rage and horror flicker across his features as his byakugan took in her wounds. Tenten closed her eyes, unable to look him in the face. Shame filled her as the realized he could truly see _everything_ her captors had done to her.

Neji embraced her again. "You're safe now, Tenten. It's going to be all right. I swear it." Then he was slipping his mask back on and yelling over his shoulder for a medic. More ninja with Leaf headbands entered the room.

A woman with graying hair and a wiry frame in the uniform of a medical ninja crouched beside Tenten, beginning to tend to Tenten's injuries while Neji hovered over her. _Liar,_ she thought sadly. _How can it ever be all right again?_ A needle plunged into her arm, and warm darkness swallowed her.

* * *

_Four months earlier_

"Begin," Tenten said calmly, and the three genin surrounding her as she stood in the center of the indoor training area did just that.

First Tenten came under assault from a blur of green and red as Isamu Ken made his presence known. The boy was chest-high to her now, and had shot up like a weed in the year since he'd been assigned to her as a student, but at thirteen he still had some growing to do. Ken was a taijutsu specialist who had inherited his work ethic from his academy mentor Rock Lee, which Tenten considered a plus.

_If only he hadn't inherited Lee's fashion sense, too,_ she lamented as she dodged his vigorous assault, blocking punches, batting away kicks and raising an eyebrow in appreciation of some of the more elaborate combo moves he'd picked up recently before dodging them. Ken's attachment to green jumpsuits and orange leg warmers was especially tragic because of the way they clashed with his short, spiky red hair. His gray eyes were earnest and determined, however, as he tried his best to strike her.

It was Ken's eyes flickering to the side for a moment along with a faint buzzing sound that alerted Tenten to another of her genin entering the fray. When the light from above dimmed and the droning buzz got louder, Tenten decided it was about time to go on the offensive. Locking into the chakra presence of Aburame Kaede behind her, Tenten performed the substitution jutsu just as the cloud of kikai bugs engulfed the wooden training dummy she'd traded places with.

Still twelve but just weeks away from her thirteenth birthday, Kaede was the youngest of the three genin. Like every Aburame she wore an overcoat that covered her from neck to knee, hers sporting a hood that covered her head as well. Underneath it she had short, curly brown hair and a coltish frame.

Kaede was perceptive and her reflective silvery eyes, hidden behind her clan's trademark dark glasses, processed information on the battlefield with astonishing quickness. As soon as she saw the dummy she knew her sensei was directly behind her and was dodging, the kikai bugs returning to her in a roiling swarm. Kaede's muscles weren't quite as fast as her mind, however, so Tenten's kick still hit her in the back, sending her sprawling forward.

As soon as the kick was delivered Tenten was back on the defensive, ducking under a trio of shuriken that shot _through_ the cloud of kikai bugs, preventing her from seeing them until they were fairly close to her. Crouching, Tenten was forced to draw a blunted training kunai to deflect the next three shuriken before rolling to the side and retaliating with some shuriken of her own.

Sporting the intense, brooding expression that her clan seemed to hand out on graduation from the Academy, Uchiha Amaya slipped to the side to avoid her teacher's throw before sprinting towards her, a blur of blue and tan to match the green and red headed for Tenten from the other side. Amaya was thirteen, a few months older than Ken. Her shoulder-length raven hair was tied back in a ponytail save for slender bangs that framed her face. Like most young Uchiha she wore a blue tunic with the clan's fan symbol on the back, tan shorts and reinforced sandals. Her dark eyes were intent as she joined Ken in a joint assault on their sensei.

Tenten was pleased to see that the pair had come a long way in their taijutsu coordination since being assigned to her. Ken used the Strong Fist style created by Maito Gai, while Amaya fought with the more surgical Uchiha style that focused on pinpoint strikes at joints, tendons and pressure points. After a year together they functioned well as a team against both single and multiple opponents, and when they both came at her Tenten was pleased that she had to work at it to avoid or block their assaults.

Smiling, Tenten stayed with the pair until Kaede's kikai bugs advanced on her again. When the insects drew close she threw her kunai at Amaya. That forced the Uchiha girl to dodge and retreat, giving Tenten an opening to drop a smoke bomb at her feet. The whitish cloud of smoke engulfed all three of them and in that moment when the red-haired boy was disoriented by the loss of his vision Tenten swept his legs out from under him, turned and kicked him in the side, sending him tumbling right into Amaya's path as she returned to the fray. She tripped over him and they both fell to the ground.

That left two down, but while Kaede wasn't sending her bugs into the smoke, knowing it would confuse them, Tenten could sense from the cloud of tiny chakra signatures that the Aburame girl had manipulated her swarm to surround the smoke as well as the objects in the room she could substitute with, and in seconds Tenten's cover would be gone. _That's my clever girl,_ Tenten thought before she dropped a few slips of paper on the ground, formed a hand sign and silently henged to change her appearance.

When she burst out of the smoke looking like Amaya, the kikai bugs started to close in before hesitating, and that second of extra time was all Tenten needed to close with Kaede, who had left herself unguarded to cover Tenten's escape routes from inside the cloud. By the time the smoke dispersed enough to reveal the real Amaya and Ken getting to their feet, Tenten was in range and let the henge expire. The Aburame girl's taijutsu wasn't her strong point, and in three moves Tenten had Kaede on the floor in an arm lock, back pinned under her knee.

"It's going to be hard to defend against us like that, sensei," Amaya suggested as she and Ken prepared to rush Tenten.

"I don't have to, Amaya. You're both already dead. Look down," Tenten instructed them. They did so, and groaned in dismay when they saw two rectangular pieces of white paper with red borders at their feet, a smiley face and a drawing of an explosion on each. They were the faux explosive tags Tenten used in training, and both genin were within the blast radius of a real tag.

Tenten let go of Kaede and the Aburame girl climbed to her feet while her kikai bugs returned to her, swarming under her coat to return to their hive inside her body.

"So, let's review," Tenten said briskly, "Kaede?"

Massaging her sore arm, Kaede looked at Tenten thoughtfully. "I should not have been so close to the training dummies," she concluded.

"Correct," Tenten said with a smile. "Maintaining range is important, but so is being aware of potential hazards around you, like traps, or objects the right size for substitution. On the other hand, your deployment of your kikai bugs was excellent, and you learned from your mistake quickly; you didn't let me get away with a second substitution." Tenten glanced at her next student. "Ken?"

Ken hung his head. "The fires of my youth were not strong enough to reach you, sensei," he lamented. "As agreed before the match I will do five hundred push-ups, and then I will do-"

Tenten scowled and rapped him on the head with her knuckles. "The point of organizing genin into squads is to overcome lack of individual experience with numbers and teamwork, Ken. I've been doing this a lot longer than you have; you're not going to hit me one on one just yet. Where did your teamwork fail?"

Ken mulled that over for a moment before he got it. "When you drove Amaya back, before the smoke bomb, I should have retreated as well."

"Exactly," she said encouragingly. "When you three find yourselves facing a stronger opponent, fighting as a unit is the only thing that will keep you alive. That means moving in sync with Amaya. Don't let an enemy separate you from her. When that happens you lose the advantage of numbers. When you were fighting together, you made the taijutsu match a challenge for me, and that's a good thing."

Tenten looked at Amaya. "You get points for the shuriken through the kikai cloud. That attack had speed, accuracy and an ideal distraction." Amaya smiled at the praise. "So tell me how Kaede ended up on the floor at the end."

The Uchiha girl blinked. "We were tripped up, and your taijutsu is better than hers?" Amaya said, looking at Kaede apologetically.

"Why were you tripped up?" Tenten asked.

"Because of the smoke bomb?" Amaya guessed.

Tenten shook her head. "Because when I forced you to move away you came back at me straight along the same line. I knew where you would be and dropped Ken in your path. Predictable movements will get you killed, Amaya."

Amaya frowned. "I knew Ken would keep pressing you; I had to get back into the fight quickly."

"No, your responsibility is to get back into the fight intelligently, not quickly. Your teammate's decision to press forward or fall back in the heat of battle is out of your control, but placing yourself where an enemy suspects you'll be in a low visibility situation doesn't help anyone."

Amaya winced, but nodded. "I understand sensei."

Tenten grinned and swept her genin up in a group hug, ignoring their grumbling. As long as they were her genin, they would receive hugs, complaints nonwithstanding. "Good. We're done for the day; you three should go get some dinner."

"Yes, sensei," they replied before heading out.

Tenten collected her discarded training weapons and put the training dummy back where it belonged before leaving the indoor training area set aside for visitors and stepping out into the cold, dry night air of Sunagakure.

After dozens of D-rank missions and months of training, her genin squad had been assigned their first C-rank mission. They'd been in Sunagakure for a month already and would remain for two more, serving as the security detail to Konohagakure's embassy.

* * *

When most ninja thought about Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, they pictured it during the day; baked by the brutal desert sun and consumed with searing heat. They saw the white buildings sunk into the ground to stay cool, and the hardy people and shinobi who made their homes in the unforgiving deserts of the Land of Wind. What didn't come to mind was how cold the desert city became at night. With no moisture in the air to hold the day's heat, the city dropped below freezing just an hour after sundown.

In the modest but private apartment afforded to her as a visiting jounin, Tenten sat at a simple desk, a heavy blanket wrapped around her, writing in her journal by the light of a single lantern. Her room had a fireplace, but the cost of fuel was dear in the desert, so she rarely lit it unless she had an evening guest and dealt with the cold on other nights. Kami knew Maito Gai had dragged her to colder places to train when she was a genin.

Tenten smiled wistfully at the memory of Team Gai. She was eighteen now, a newly minted jounin with a genin team of her own, but she remembered those times so clearly. Most days had been a fight for survival – against her energetic teammates if not an enemy – but the sense of belonging to a unit with a mission and a purpose had been reassuring. Now she was the leader, and she had to provide purpose and what safety she could to her students. Everything came around full circle.

Rock Lee was a chuunin and a taijutsu instructor at Konohagakure's Ninja Academy now, instilling the "fires of youth" on a new generation. Hyuuga Neji had beaten Tenten to chuunin by a year and jounin by two, and was now in ANBU. But Tenten had never considered herself to be in competition with the Hyuuga genius; they had become friends and eventually lovers, and they sought each other out whenever their paths crossed.

Shivering despite her blanket, Tenten felt a moment of envy for Amaya, Kaede and Ken. They were quartered in the village's barracks with the Sand genin and had little privacy, but the village at least piped heat into their quarters. The embassy's staff was on its own. Unlike the ambassador, an Uchiha of middling talent and strong political connections, Tenten worked for a living and wasn't rich enough to waste money on firewood every night.

Shrugging off the thought, Tenten snugged the blanket tighter around her shoulders, reminded herself that shinobi were strengthened by adversity, and resumed writing.

_Years ago, shortly after I was promoted to chuunin, Gai-sensei said something strange to me. He said, "knowledge of the past is a dangerous weapon in these times". He didn't say that to Neji or Lee, just me. At the time, I didn't know what to make of it. It was so out of character for him that I dismissed it. It took me years to understand what he meant. Knowing history is dangerous, but it provides advantages in these times._

_If the Hokage – may he burn in a Hell more horrid than I have the wisdom to devise – suspected how much of Konohagakure's past I know, he would kill me. He's spent decades weaving lies and fictions around what really happened during the Third Shinobi War. That war is when everything went wrong in the Elemental Nations._

_I don't know if Orochimaru actually had a hand in the deaths of Sarutobi Hiruzen and Jiraya of the Sannin. He's certainly the one who benefited most from their passing during the war. The Konohagakure Council crowned him the Yondaime Hokage before Hiruzen's body was cold. It should have been Namikaze Minato, but Orochimaru had more allies on the Council. Minato's death fending off the Kyuubi a few years later made it a moot point._

_It's ironic that the Third Shinobi War, which started as a power struggle between the great Hidden Villages, ended with the utter destruction of every village but the five largest. Once Orochimaru became Hokage he put forward a radically simple notion; instead of fighting strong adversaries for bits of power and territory, why not simply expand the influence of the "Big Five" by wiping out all the lesser villages? No one trusted him of course, but when he obliterated Kusagakure – Konohagakure's closest ally – in a night, minds changed from Mist to Rock. They asked themselves if they could afford not to do what Orochimaru had, especially when their spies told them about captured kekkei genkai from Grass, women and children taken captive in the fall of Kusagakure, their bloodlines twisted into service of the Leaf._

_In the end the five "great" villages all did it. Waterfall, Star, Rain, Moon, Stone, Haze, Frost and more were all wiped out, their shinobi slaughtered and their techniques and kekkei genkai stolen to serve the larger villages._

_Of course, I have no proof that Orochimaru killed the Third Hokage. Even if I did, would it make a difference? Sand, Rock, Cloud and Mist all like the new status quo, and Orochimaru doesn't have any enemies internal to Konohagakure strong enough to challenge him. Sometimes I wonder if the knowledge of the past I've carefully accumulated is worth the risk. But if no one remembers, then history will be twisted forever._

Sighing, Tenten put away her pen and closed the journal, pressing her palm to the seal on the cover and drawing the minute trace of her own chakra housed in the seal, causing it to fade from sight. In the course of becoming a weapons mistress, Tenten had by necessity learned quite a bit of fuuinjutsu. She'd kept the full breadth of her knowledge a secret, and as far as anyone from Konohagakure was concerned, she possessed only the skill to store a wide array of weapons in the large scroll she carried into combat on her back. No one living knew that she had the skill to place a seal on her journals that replaced her true writings with fake pages unless her chakra infused the bindings. Anyone opening her journal now would only find the somewhat vapid musings of an earnest, hard-working but not terribly bright kunoichi. Growing up in Konohagakure, you were careful and canny or you were dead.

Heading for bed and stifling a yawn, Tenten saw a flash of light as she passed the window, followed a moment later by a resounding _BOOM_ from the skies. Tenten dropped her blanket and grabbed her large scroll as she peered out the window. "That was a big explosion," she murmured. "Something's not right." Several more blasts lit up the sky, and shouts from the neighborhood around her started filling the air, blurs of Sand shinobi rushing across rooftops. Squinting, Tenten was startled to see the light of stars blocked in the sky above. For a moment a silhouette of a human figure surrounded by a cloud of granules drifted across the moon. _The Kazekage is fighting someone!_ Tenten realized with a shiver of fear. So far she hadn't had to meet with Sabaku no Gaara, the Monster of the Bloody Sand. That was one duty she didn't envy the Uchiha ambassador.

Tenten's head turned to the east gate of Sunagakure as more explosions, at ground level and familiar in timbre, tore the gatehouse apart. _Those were explosive tags, not whatever's going on in the sky. Sunagakure's under attack!_ Tenten's job wasn't to defend their ally, but to protect the ambassador and his staff. The embassy security job was supposed to be an easy C-ranked mission where her genin students could gain some experience in an allied village while Tenten stayed in the background. Unfortunately, the embassy was just a few blocks from the east gate, which meant the ambassador and his staff were in real danger and she had a job to do.

Pausing for only a moment to tie the bright blue armband with a silver plaque on her arm that proclaimed her an authorized foreign ninja, Tenten jumped out the window and took to the "shinobi highway" of the rooftops, making a beeline for the embassy. She had to dodge a few twitchy Sand ninja, but fortunately they saw the armband and her Konohagakure hitai-ate, figured out she was just doing her job, and went on to go do theirs.

Tenten was a few blocks away from the embassy when a another explosion filled the sky, directly above her. Instinctively, she dived into an alleyway between buildings, glancing over her shoulder to see falling sand and debris that she rolled into a recessed doorway to avoid as falling objects pelted the rooftops and alley. Tenten waited for a few moments before poking her head out, just in time to see one last thing plummet from the sky, cratering in the sand at her feet and spraying her with grains that she threw her arm up to deflect. When she looked down a moment later she froze. Lying in the crater was the red-haired Kazekage. His robes were in tatters and his sand armor crumbling, his skin red and burned. Gaara's black-ringed tanuki eyes glared at Tenten for a moment before he passed out.

"Oh hell…" Tenten breathed. Theoretically, a good Leaf ninja would provide aid to the leader of an allied Hidden Village. In fact, failing to do so would probably end in an execution if it became known. But Tenten knew just how bloody Gaara's hands were, and she had no desire to die trying to fight whoever had defeated Sunagakure's jinchuuriki and strongest warrior. She could sense two powerful chakra signatures approaching, one from above and the other from the east gate.

Tenten was about to leap out of the alleyway and pretend she hadn't seen any of it when three small figures appeared in the alley mouth and ran towards her. Amaya, Kaede and Ken emerged from the darkness, skidding to a stop and gaping at the prone form of the Kazekage.

Tenten's heart froze with dread as her genin team ran into the alley and their likely deaths, heedless of the powerful adversaries approaching. Tenten furiously considered her options. _Run? _No, her genin would obey her, but they were already staring at Gaara. They wouldn't be able to keep the secret, and they'd likely be killed with her if the Sand shinobi or the Hokage found out. _Fight?_ Even with the three of them, bright and promising as they were, Tenten knew she couldn't beat whoever had taken down Gaara. _Deceit?_ A plan formed in Tenten's mind, one that would probably mean her death, but life for her students.

"Pick him up! Hurry!" Tenten called to her students, yanking open the recessed doors of a cellar. Inside it was musty and abandoned. Her genin obeyed, Ken lifting the older man with impressive strength as the girls helped him drag the Kazekage over to Tenten.

Under the cover of moving the Kazekage, Tenten palmed a piece of paper with a single-use seal drawn on it and placed it on Gaara's skin under her hand. Tenten knew from experience that stealing even a small amount of a jinchuuriki's demon-tainted chakra was painful, but it was necessary so she grit her teeth and bore it as abrasive chakra that felt like sand under her skin leeched into her.

When Tenten drew her hand back as they reached the open cellar door, the paper of the seal crumbled to dust, and her chakra coils were burning with Gaara's polluted energy. "Sensei…" Amaya murmured.

"There's no time. Take the Kazekage into the basement and keep him safe until reinforcements arrive."

"Sensei, we'll fight with you and rescue the Kazekage together!" Ken cried with his usual bravado, making a pose. "A future Hokage doesn't run from a fight!" Tenten had given up reacting openly to Ken's outlandish words and actions, and her hitai-ate hid the tick in her brow at his pronouncement. Upon meeting her genin team Tenten had wondered briefly what sins she had been committed in a past life to be sentenced to deal with one of Konohagakure's Green Beasts not just as a teacher and a teammate but a student as well.

Amaya, also experienced with her brash teammate, calmly smacked him upside the head before dragging him down the stairs by one ear. Kaede said nothing, her analytical Aburame mind reaching the same conclusion Amaya had. "You're going to draw away whoever did this," she observed as she grabbed Gaara under the shoulders and dragged him down into the basement after Amaya and a protesting Ken.

Tenten smiled. "Those are my smart girls. Stay quiet. Stay hidden." Both of them, the Aburame and the Uchiha, caught her eyes as she closed the door to the cellar. She could see it in their eyes. They knew they probably wouldn't see her again. It was the way of the shinobi.

Drawing a deep breath, Tenten formed a quick hand sign. "Henge!" A puff of smoke surrounded her, and when it dispelled, she was wearing the appearance of Gaara, Monster of the Bloody Sand, and radiating his foul chakra. It was not a moment too soon.

"End of the line, jinchuuriki, un," a light but deadly voice came from above. Glancing up, Tenten saw a slender blond man with a ponytail and long bangs wearing a black cloak with red clouds drop from the back of a white bird, of all things, blocking one end of the alley.

"Surrender, Sabaku no Gaara," a harsh, grating voice spoke from the other end of the alley. A broad, hunched-over form draped in the same black cloak and wearing a broad straw hat blocked that path. "You can't escape us." Silently, Tenten was forced to agree with that statement. She recognized Deidara from the bingo book, but the other was a mystery. Both of them were S-class nuke-nin just by their chakra levels, radiating power and killing intent that she'd never felt from anyone other than a kage or a jinchuuriki. But for the sake of her students, she had to try and outmaneuver them.

Tenten would have exchanged verbal barbs with them to try to get more information or buy some time. But Gaara rarely spoke to his enemies, and her students' lives depended on her imitating Gaara. Judging Deidara to be a known quantity and the more overconfident of the pair, she charged him silently. Smirking, he drew back his arm and threw something down the alley at her. Tenten formed a hand sign. "Bunshin!" Another cloud of smoke, and there were three Gaaras, one running down the alley and one now running on either wall.

"You must really be wasted to resort to such a novice trick, jinchuuriki," Deidara sneered. His first projectile, a small clay bird, continued to its original target, the central Gaara, while he opened his second hand and hurled another bird at the left Gaara before making a one-handed sign. "You can't hide your chakra from me, un! Katsu!"

A pair of explosions tore through the alley as the birds hit their marks and detonated. Smirking, Deidara strode to where the left Gaara had fallen, only to stare in disbelief at empty space before glancing over his shoulder at the rapidly fleeing form of the red-headed Kazekage.

Feeling slightly exhausted, Tenten nonetheless allowed herself a satisfied grin as she ran. _Maybe I'll live through this yet, _she thought as she ran for Sunagakure's jounin barracks, hoping to find enough reinforcements to get the nuke-nins off of her tail. She felt the pair giving chase, Deidara cursing and his partner chewing him out for letting her past.

It was one of Tenten's better tricks, and one that happened to work better on experienced shinobi used to relying on their chakra sense as well as their eyes. She formed two bunshin, one with the regular amount of chakra, the other with as much chakra as it would hold without breaking. If she suppressed her own chakra to match that of the regular bunshin in the moment of separation, her opponent would almost always target the wrong one. It wouldn't work on a Hyuuga, but just about anyone else was fair game. Overcharging a bunshin like that was draining, but since she was still alive, Tenten wasn't complaining.

As she leapt from one rooftop to the next, the clattering of wood was her only warning as something shot up from the street below her. Twisting in midair, Tenten barely dodged the strike, hissing as a humanoid figure shot past her, a blade in its hand grazing her calf and drawing blood. When she landed on the rooftop two more twisted figures leapt at her. She dodged and hit them both with a kunai in the center of mass, but it didn't even seem to slow them down. _Puppets!_ Tenten realized in shock as the three were joined by two more, cutting her off from the jounin barracks.

"Not good," Tenten muttered, leaping away in a different direction and fleeing the clattering puppets. A few puppets she could handle, but they were more resistant to her weapons than living opponents, and they always had nasty surprises in them. They were clumsy and slow compared to Tenten, but more kept showing up, and she realized they were herding her away from the populous areas of Sunagakure towards the outskirts of town.

Tenten chafed at the restraints of her disguise. Even with some of Gaara's disgusting chakra in her she couldn't use the sand against the nuke-nin, and while she could blow away the puppets with a Twin Rising Dragon, that technique would be a dead giveaway that she wasn't Gaara, and she wasn't far enough away from her student's hiding place yet. She was forced to flee further, out beyond Sunagakure's limits and onto the dunes, where there was nowhere to hide, dodging Deidara's bombs and the damned army of puppets.

When her leg started feeling cold and numb, Tenten realized she was in even more trouble. _Poison on that first puppet's attack! Damn._ Moments later her leg collapsed under her and she fell to the sand. Before she could recover a pair of puppets leapt on her, tangling her limbs in theirs and pinning her. Struggling against them, she saw Deidara land, his strange bulky partner the puppet master at his side. The puppet master's robe shifted, a segmented tail ending in a spike, which shot forward, stopping inches from her throat, the razor tip quivering in menace. "You lose, jinchuuriki," he grated. "Let the poison do its work."

Tenten could feel the cold numbness spreading through her body. Soon, she couldn't even struggle against the puppets, and they retreated as Deidara and the puppeteer loomed over her. Lying on the sand, paralyzed, she saw the lights of Sunagakure, bright in the night. _My girls will be safe at least. I hope they get another jounin sensei that will treat them well. Maybe Gai will take them._ As darkness ate at her vision, Tenten managed a grin. "Sorry, nuke-nin. Better luck next time." Then she released the burning, polluted chakra she'd stolen from Gaara, letting it leave her body. The expulsion of alien chakra disrupted her disguise jutsu, and with a puff of smoke, she returned to being a kunoichi with a Leaf hitai-ate. _As last sights go, that's not bad,_ Tenten decided with satisfaction, taking in the stunned looks of dismay on the faces of Deidara and the masked puppeteer before the blackness claimed her.

* * *

"Fuck!" Deidara yelled, glaring at the Leaf ninja lying in the sand, a satisfied smile still on her lips after she passed out. Resisting the oh-so-tempting urge to vent his anger on the frustrating kunoichi, he clenched his fists. "We have to go back, un. Damn it, who knows where the Kazekage is now!"

Sasori shook his head, crouching over the bun-headed kunoichi. "No, we've lost this round. Sunagakure's on full alert, the Kazekage will be hiding by now, and in any case, look there." Sasori pointed with his tail at movement in the distance.

Squinting, Deidara hopped on his bird to get a bit of altitude. What he saw was a large group of shinobi crossing the desert headed for Sunagakure. A number of Konohagakure's banners were flying over the group, including one with golden thread in its trim. Deidara's eyes narrowed in hate. "The Hokage," he spat.

Sasori nodded. "That wasn't in our intel. If Orochimaru's here, he brought his pet jinchuuriki with him. We'd need the Leader to face those two and the Kazekage. Let's retreat for now." Deidara blinked in surprise when Sasori drew a green senbon from his robes and jabbed it into Tenten's neck. Sasori's green senbon held the antidotes to his poisons. "Why'd you do that, un? We'd have the Kazekage if not for her!"

Sasori shrugged, wrapping Tenten in his tail and lifting her up. "Getting spies into Konohagakure is difficult and this one's a jounin at least. If we can get some intelligence out of her, this night won't have been a complete waste." Grumbling, Deidara nonetheless formed a second large clay bird for Sasori and his prisoner, and they took to the night skies, flying north and east.


	2. Demons of Sand and Leaf

**Chapter 2: Demons of Sand and Leaf**

* * *

The Leaf ANBU known as Sparrow for the bird's face carved on his white mask crouched on the peak of a massive sand dune in the deserts outside Sunagakure, while the Hokage's travelling party moved past below. The other members of his ANBU team, the Hokage's personal guard, were scattered around the perimeter of the group as they ran across the nighttime desert. The other ANBU were constantly in motion, heads turning this way and that, but Sparrow moved differently – no less fluid when running across the sand, but his masked gaze rarely shifted. He had no need; with the byakugan he could see everything around him without moving his neck.

The group had made good time in their journey through the forest and across the desert. It was a slower pace than a lone ninja team would have kept, but even though the Hokage had to travel with a certain amount of followers and hangers-on, they still moved quite rapidly by civilian standards. Orochimaru didn't care for slow travel, and his attendants were all capable of running throughout the day, if not necessarily as fast as a jounin. It worked out well for security purposes, since the Hokage's guards could scout ahead, and let their leader set the pace. Anyone he felt was moving too slowly usually didn't last long enough to slow anyone down on the return trip.

A bird call from a nearby dune alerted Sparrow to one of his teammates, Lynx, a tall, slender man with short black hair that stood up in spikes. Lynx made several hand gestures in the ANBU sign language, pointing south-west towards Sunagakure. ANBU masks were treated with chakra to prevent even the byakugan from seeing the face underneath, but Sparrow knew that a pair of three-tomoe sharingan lurked behind Lynx's mask, the only eyes in the group capable of seeing what he had signaled.

Sparrow frowned. _Smoke coming from Sunagakure? We're too far out to be able to see anything short of smoke from a massive blaze, and Sunagakure is built with stone._ Sparrow had been focusing his 360 degree vision in a sphere around the Hokage's party, but now he turned his gaze in a single direction, piercing terrain and darkness over more than two miles to peer at their destination. He stiffened in alarm at what he saw. His hand signs in return to Lynx and the other ANBU made them appear from the shadows all around the Hokage's party, moving into a tighter defensive cordon, while Sparrow leapt down to report to the Hokage himself.

Sparrow landed beside Orochimaru and his adopted son Namikaze Naruto, inside the invisible circle of space that was usually afforded to the pair. The ANBU avoided getting close without a reason because Naruto's monstrous chakra swamped their ability to sense anything else and everyone else in the Hokage's party did it because they were terrified of the jinchuuriki.

Some villages treated their jinchuuriki like pariahs, but Orochimaru was more practical and far less fearful. When Naruto's father and mother had died stopping the Kyuubi's rampage, Orochimaru and his wife Mitarashi Anko had raised the boy as their own. Now seventeen he was among the most powerful of the jinchuuriki, a terror on the battlefield, and as ruthless as he was loyal to Orochimaru. Konohagakure was no stranger to shinobi with red eyes, but Naruto's slit pupils _glowed_, the result of years of training to harness the Kyuubi's power. Even Sparrow, a powerful, experienced jounin had to suppress a shudder when that whisker-marked face turned his way.

"Report," Orochimaru commanded, far from oblivious to the tension of his bodyguards and the change in formation.

"Smoke is rising from Sunagakure, and their east gate is in ruins, Hokage-sama," Sparrow reported quietly.

"Tch," Orochimaru said in irritation, before muttering something under his breath that Sparrow didn't catch, save for the word 'Akatsuki'. "Leave a few men to accompany my attendants; the rest of you, with me. We're jumping to the embassy."

Sparrow signaled, and Boar and Wren dropped back to escort the hangers-on into the city. The rest of the ANBU – Sparrow, Lynx, Owl and Mole – closed in around the Hokage and Naruto, laying a hand on the shoulder of one or the other as they joined hands. Sparrow felt the skin of his palm start to burn slightly just from touching Naruto, but it was a small pain, easily ignored. Lynx, also touching Naruto, showed no reaction either. Owl, a short man with dark hair caught up in a standing spike like the top of a pineapple and Mole, a woman with long, blonde hair and a full bust, touched Orochimaru. Naruto's chakra surged. "Hiraishin no Jutsu," he called, and all six vanished in a flash.

All of them were used to being subjected to the legendary Namikaze teleportation technique Naruto had learned from his father's scrolls, so the disorientation faded in moments. Uchiha Hisomo, the gray-haired ambassador to Sunagakure, rose from his desk as they appeared and bowed to Orochimaru. "Hokage-sama, I'm glad you chose to arrive this way. The Kazekage's brother ordered the gates sealed."

Naruto sneered in contempt, while Orochimaru's yellow eyes narrowed. "What happened?"

Hisomo spread his hands. "The Sand shinobi are on edge and aren't saying much, but my contacts indicate that there was an attempt on the Kazekage's life just hours ago, accompanied by a diversionary attack on the east gate that seems to have left a number of Sunagakure's ninja dead." Then Hisomo let some of his anger show. "My jounin security chief is missing, and the Sand ANBU have arrested her genin team, including Uchiha Amaya. All they'll tell me is that they were caught up in the attempt on the Kazekage. I've demanded to be allowed to see them as strongly as I am able, but they've ignored me so far."

Lynx stiffened in indignation, and Sparrow had to control his own reaction, though to a different piece of the report. _Tenten is missing?_ Fear he couldn't allow to show gripped his chest. Orochimaru shook his head. "Well that won't do. Naruto, take Sparrow and Mole; find those genin and why they've been detained. Don't start a war, but make it clear that Sunagakure doesn't detain my people without a good reason." Naruto nodded with a savage grin, and Sparrow suddenly pitied whoever the Sand ANBU had on guard at Sunagakure's prison. "You two are coming with me and the ambassador," Orochimaru continued to Lynx and Owl. "Take us to the Kazekage."

Sparrow didn't catch the rest of the conversation, following Naruto and Mole out the window and across the rooftops. The Sand shinobi were out in force, twitchy and armed to the teeth, but they knew what Naruto's chakra felt like, and weren't about to mess with him without direct orders. There were so many breakable things around – shops, people… the city of Sunagakure. So they made it to the prison unmolested, where their path was blocked by half a dozen Sand ANBU, as well as a hard-eyed blonde woman with her hair caught up in four tails and a large metal fan in her grasp.

"Where are they, Temari?" Naruto growled when he came to a halt in front of her.

Temari's eyes widened and she swallowed hard but didn't give ground. "I'm sorry Namikaze-sama, to whom are you referring?"

"Don't play games with me, Temari. You arrested one of our genin teams. You're going to tell me why and let us in to see them or you're going to be repairing a whole lot more than your east gate."

Temari shook her head stubbornly. "They were found with the Kazekage after he was attacked and wounded by an unknown assailant, possibly their sensei, and their story doesn't add up. They're going nowhere until we get the truth."

Naruto grinned, baring his fangs. "Someone beat Gaara? That's priceless." Temari and the Sand ANBU stiffened at the words, but he continued. "It wasn't Tenten, though. She's nowhere near strong enough. So how about this: you let me in and I'll get a straight answer out of the little shits." Temari started to shake her head. "The other option is I tear your prison apart to find them and you need a new prison and some new ANBU. The Hokage told me not to start a war, so I'd prefer the first option, but I will be going inside. How much of this building is standing and free of bloodstains when I leave is entirely up to you."

Shock was plain on Temari's face, and anger. The ANBU behind her drew their weapons, and Sparrow settled into the Gentle Fist stance with resignation as Mole's hands filled with poisoned senbon; he didn't want to kill Sand ninja. They weren't an enemy of the Hyuuga or Konohagakure. But he knew that Orochimaru wouldn't allow any other village to detain an Uchiha, especially one who was young and female. Naruto knew it too, and Sparrow sighed as red chakra started to visibly pour from Naruto's skin, forming the fox cloak around him.

The Sand ANBU leapt forward, only to be hit by a pair of massive chakra arms that extended from the fox cloak and slammed them into the wall, pinning them. Naruto moved forward with impossible quickness, trapping Temari's fan between their bodies and grabbing her throat, lifting her off of her feet. A kunai appeared in her hand and plunged toward his arm, only to break in two when it hit the fox cloak. "You must really care nothing for all the ninja of your village who are about to die," Naruto said as more Sand ANBU appeared from the prison.

Struggling for breath, Temari looked in Naruto's eyes and saw death. Grimacing, she choked out "Stand down!" to the Sand ANBU despite his grip on her neck. Naruto let go and she staggered back, coughing. Sparrow could see the red burn mark in the shape of a hand where Naruto's fox cloak had seared her skin. "Fine, you can see them. Kami, I hope I'm there to watch when someone kills you," Temari said bitterly, her voice hoarse.

Naruto grinned. "You'll be waiting a while. No one's strong enough to kill me."

Temari glared at him but didn't say another word as she stalked into the prison with Naruto, Sparrow and Mole close behind. Before they were halfway into the prison Sparrow located the three genin with his byakugan, but since Temari was taking them in the right direction, he didn't say anything. Each was in a separate interrogation room. Even with the loss of color and texture that came with looking through a wall, Sparrow could tell that Isamu Ken's face was bruised, and as he watched, an exchange of words between the boy and his interrogator resulted in another punch to the brash redhead's face.

There was no interrogator in Aburame Kaede's room, and Sparrow guessed that the thousands of tiny chakra signatures crawling over every surface in the room were the reason. The girl herself was curled up in a corner, flinching every time she heard Ken's interrogator hit him. Uchiha Amaya was simply sitting in the chair in her room, glaring at the interrogator with her arms crossed and saying nothing. Sparrow was relieved to see that at least they hadn't been roughing her up. That probably would start a war.

When Naruto glanced his way, Sparrow made a few gestures. The jinchuuriki knew the ANBU sign language. "Oh, Temari," Naruto said casually, "Unless those kids really did do something pretty serious, I'm going to kill the idiots who are working them over." Temari looked alarmed, but there wasn't much she could say.

When they reached the interrogation cells, Naruto simply opened the door to Amaya's room and walked in. A moment later the interrogator flew out and hit the opposite wall, hard. Mole followed Naruto, while Sparrow went down two doors, yanked it open and struck the tenketsu at the base of the interrogator's neck with chakra-laced fingers. The man fell to the floor, temporarily paralyzed. "Come," Sparrow said to the bruised boy in green, who hopped up from the floor, shouted "Yosh!" and followed the Leaf ANBU.

Sparrow knew enough about the Aburame clan's members, especially young ones, to not open the door until the girl had her bugs under control. "Reel in your bugs, girl. You're safe." When she didn't obey, Sparrow sighed. She probably didn't recognize his voice.

Seeing the problem, Ken called out, "It's okay, Kaede, he's a Leaf ninja!"

At that, the girl's bugs began returning to their hive, and Sparrow opened the door. "Come," he said again, and the girl got to her feet, almost tackling Ken hugging him in the hallway.

"Are you okay?" she said, wincing at the sight of Ken's bruises.

He grinned despite a split lip. "This is nothing to a future Hokage." Sparrow gestured, and the two genin followed him into the room with Amaya, Naruto, Temari and Mole, the latter of whom was sitting in the interrogator's chair, just breaking an intense gaze with Amaya.

"She's been telling them the truth for the last two hours," Mole observed with disgust. "They were heading to the embassy when they saw the Kazekage fall from the sky and found Tenten where he landed. She was probably doing the same, the spot was right between her apartment and there. Tenten ordered them to hide in a basement with him and keep quiet while she drew away whoever attacked the Kazekage. They did so until the Sand ANBU found and arrested them."

Looking relieved now that Leaf ninja had arrived, Amaya blurted out, "Please, you have to help our sensei! The guys who were after the Kazekage were really strong; even we could feel their chakra!" Ken and Kaede nodded in affirmation. "Sensei henged into the Kazekage and got them to chase her, we heard it, you have to find her!"

Naruto was glaring daggers at Temari, who looked back defiantly. "We don't have Yamanaka clan mind readers here," she said defensively, pointing at Mole, who was managing to smirk even under a full face mask. "Finding the truth is a little harder when we can't just dredge people's minds."

"Whatever. Mole, check the other two and tell Temari what you find then bring the genin to the embassy." Naruto headed for the door.

"Namikaze-sama?" Sparrow ventured. "Permit me to attempt to track down Tenten and her assailants."

Naruto paused to consider it and then shrugged. "Go ahead. Report back when you find out more about what happened."

Sparrow nodded, got the location of the site from the genin and then headed out, flying across Sunagakure at top speed. _Please don't be dead, Tenten,_ he thought. Finding the spot where Gaara had fallen was easy. Following the trail from there was harder. The chase had quickly taken to the rooftops, and without the byakugan Sparrow would never had been able to spot the widely spread footprints, Tenten's delicate feet pursued by much heavier treads that didn't even look human.

Further along he started to find discarded kunai and shuriken, ones he recognized as bearing the mark of Tenten's father, the blacksmith who made most of her weapons. Urgency and worry growing inside him, Sparrow followed the signs of a running battle to the edge of the village. He was aware of the Sand ANBU following him, but put them out of his mind, racing out onto the dunes.

There were more signs of struggle where the trail ended, and Sparrow's byakugan picked up something large buried beneath the sand. His heart was in his throat as he dropped to his knees and dug it up. He felt a bit of relief when his hands found paper, not cloth or flesh, and he dragged Tenten's main sealing scroll from the sand. It was slashed and burned in places, and there was some blood on it, though not much. Relief that it hadn't been her body and worry at the knowledge that Tenten would never have left her precious scroll behind willingly warred within him. He pushed his byakugan out to its limit, but there were no other signs, above or below the sand.

The most logical conclusion was also of great concern to him. The Kazekage had been attacked by a flight-capable opponent. No one had walked or run away from this spot, so it was reasonable to conclude from the lack of blood or a body that the Kazekage's attacker or attackers had taken Tenten alive, possibly still believing her to be the Kazekage. That was bad, but as un-ANBU a thought as it was, Sparrow was glad she wasn't dead. There was a chance she could be found, rescued.

Grimly, Sparrow shouldered the massive scroll and turned back to Sunagakure. A pair of Sand ANBU landed in front of him. "That's evidence. Hand it over," the one with a spider mask demanded.

"This is a precious possession of the Leaf ninja who saved your Kazekage's life, and you'll take it over my dead body," Sparrow said calmly, and the killing intent suddenly radiating from him was enough to give the Sand ANBU pause. "I'll be bringing it to the Konohagakure embassy, and I'm sure you'll be allowed to examine it, but I'm not letting you take it," Sparrow continued, giving them an option to back down. They took it, parting silently to let them pass. He headed for the embassy, and the Sand ANBU followed.

_I'll keep it safe until you're with us again Tenten. I promise,_ Hyuuga Neji swore, adjusting the sparrow mask as he raced across the desert sands.

* * *

Tenten sat in a windowless cell of bare stone, the cold from the floor and air seeping into her skin. She gazed into the middle distance, not really looking at anything. She already knew everything about the cell. Three featureless walls, the fourth interrupted by a rather sturdy steel door with no handle or hinges on her side. Ceiling, solid stone save for the single light in a barred recess. Floor, unadorned save for the hole in one corner for waste.

All that wouldn't have made it a particularly difficult cell to escape. Maito Gai didn't allow genin he instructed to participate in the Chuunin Exam until they could open at least one of the Eight Inner Gates. Tenten wasn't a taijutsu savant like Rock Lee, who could open five gates while he was still a genin, but she'd managed to open the first gate to qualify for the Chuunin exams. Now she could access two gates if necessary. Those would be enough to batter down a steel door, even if it probably would break several her bones in the process.

What was keeping Tenten in the cell were the shackles encircling her wrists and ankles, the chains connected so she couldn't raise her hands above her waist while standing. Each of the four heavy bands was carved with intricate seals. If she wasn't currently wearing them she could have been impressed with the level of fuuinjutsu mastery their creator possessed; she'd learned a lot just by studying the chains since waking up wearing them.

They were far more sophisticated than the simple chakra ropes usually used to restrain shinobi prisoners. The seals on the manacles actually absorbed any chakra beyond the body's natural flow that passed through the limbs they restrained, and used that chakra to punish the wearer.

Tenten had discovered this when experimentally attempting a weak ninjutsu had not only failed but made the metal hot enough to blister her skin. Tenten suspected that opening an Inner Gate would feed the damned things enough chakra to burn her hands and feet clean off before she could break the chains.

Sitting there, Tenten shivered slightly. The cell and the stones were cool enough to be uncomfortable, especially without clothes. She'd woken up naked save for the chains and discovered she'd been searched thoroughly. They'd even found the pair of tiny senbon she hid in her mouth. Being naked on its own didn't bother Tenten; it was a standard tactic to put kunoichi prisoners off balance, and she'd dealt with worse at the hands of Konohagakure's Torture and Interrogation Unit during the torture resistance portion of the jounin exams, and passed with flying colors. She just wished they'd given her a damned blanket or something if they were going to leave her to stew. Being able to tolerate the cold wasn't the same as not feeling it.

Food and water were slipped through a slot under the door at regular intervals. She'd refused to touch it at first, shoving it back out rather than risk being drugged, but after the first day and a half it was drink or die. To her surprise, there was nothing untoward added to the food or drink that she could detect. The manacles confused her too, when she thought about them. They prevented her escape, but not her death, which should have been a consideration if her captors wanted something from her. The shackles wouldn't prevent her from performing a suicide jutsu. A good Leaf shinobi probably would have done so already, but Tenten admitted to herself that she wasn't quite that eager to die.

No one had come to ask Tenten any questions yet either. She hadn't even seen any of her captors since waking up in the cell, and it had been almost a week, but the interrogation – and probably torture – had to be coming. Tenten knew they couldn't have kept her alive for anything else. She didn't have a clan, or even a family wealthy enough to ransom her; she didn't have a kekkei genkai to extract by surgery or forced pregnancy. The one possibility she tried hard _not _to think about was the rumors about the experiments the Hokage did on living shinobi. Tenten vowed that the first hint that she got about being prisoner of someone like that and she _would_ choose death rather than live as someone's sick experiment.

As though the uncomfortable thoughts summoned it, the lock clicked and the door swung open for the first time, a male silhouette filling the doorway. The light outside was brighter than she'd seen in a week, and Tenten squinted as the man stepped inside. When she could see his features, she found herself looking at a tall man with short, spiky red hair and piercing brown eyes. He wore the same black cloak with red clouds as Deidara and the puppeteer had, and he looked to be in his mid-thirties, a few laugh lines around his eyes. On his forehead he wore a Sunagakure hitai-ate, but the slash across the middle like Deidara's told her he was a nuke-nin powerful enough that he didn't care who knew.

His eyes moved over her body blatantly, and she forced herself not to react or cover herself; she wouldn't show any discomfort at being unclothed before him. The man had no obvious weapons, though the cloak could conceal a number of them. She could feel the strength of his chakra, every bit as intense as the two she had already faced.

They just stared at each other for several minutes, neither of them speaking or moving, until Tenten burst out irritably, "What?"

A confident smile spread across the man's face. "My name is Sasori," he said.

Tenten blinked. She'd talked with enemy ninja before, but the conversations usually didn't start with introductions. Then the name hit her. Another "first page of the Bingo Book" name, Sunagakure's this time. Sasori of the Red Sands. S-class nuke-nin and… _master puppeteer. _"You look different without the armor," Tenten commented with forced levity. "What are you guys, a Bingo book reunion tour? Do you have some of Cloud and Mist's most wanted running around in emo bathrobes too?"

Sasori laughed at that. "You are an unusual kunoichi. Clever, spirited, and you control your emotions almost as well as you control your chakra. You hide your fear well. That's good." Then his face lost all trace of humor, his eyes sharp and serious as a kunai to the throat. "The ones who are afraid before we even get started are never any fun." He stepped inside the cell, looming over Tenten, and the door swung shut behind him. "Let's get started, shall we?" Tenten couldn't suppress the shudder that ran down her spine.


	3. The Sleeper Awakens

**Chapter 3: The Sleeper Awakens**

* * *

Orochimaru, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, signed the last document on his desk and dropped it onto the "finished" pile with satisfaction. Sometimes after a few hours of paperwork, the former Sannin pictured his old sensei Sarutobi Hiruzen laughing at him from the afterlife. Orochimaru delegated where he could, but there were plenty of decisions that were too important for subordinates or a shadow clone to make. That didn't make them any less boring, though.

A delicate pair of hands landed on his shoulders, kneading the tense muscles there for a minute, and a smile crossed Orochimaru's pale face. _Maybe I am stuck with the paperwork, old man, but I've got all the power too, and the perks are more than worth it._ A pretty face with hard eyes and topped by spiky purple hair moved around from the back of his chair. Anko leaned in, and the pair exchanged a quick kiss. "Are we done for the day?" he asked. In addition to being his wife, Anko was his closest advisor. There was no one Orochimaru relied on completely, but the purple-haired young woman he had molded into a loyal right hand and ideal mate since childhood was among those he trusted most.

"Almost," she said. "Word just came in from Sparrow's team; they were sent to check out that suspected Akatsuki base on the border with Iwagakure."

Orochimaru nodded. "When do they expect to be back?"

"They are back. Their report was dropped at the gatehouse."

"Why is Sparrow not reporting to me in person?"

Anko grinned. "Probably because of what he found."

Orochimaru waited for elaboration for a moment before giving Anko a playful smack on the rear. "Details, woman!"

She laughed. "The base had been abandoned by the Akatsuki so they didn't find much in the way of material intelligence, but one of the prisoners the terrorists left behind wasn't quite dead." Anko glanced at the report, "It was one of ours; Tenten, a jounin who's been missing for a while. The medic's report notes that it was a near thing. She was almost dead of dehydration when they found her. Sparrow took her straight to the hospital at the medic's insistence." Then Anko grinned. "He probably would have anyways. He has a past with the woman. They were on a genin squad together."

Orochimaru nodded, a frown crossing his face. "Tenten. That name sounds familiar."

"She was presumed captured four months ago by the Akatsuki after foiling that assassination attempt on the Kazekage." Anko flipped through a few pages of the medical report. "Damn. That's harsh even by our standards. They did a number on her before they left her to die." Orochimaru extended his hand and read the report when Anko handed it to him.

"Ah. I remember now. Tenten was the embassy's security chief at the time. She did us and our ally a service saving the Kazekage from Akatsuki and I'm inclined to be grateful, but she's also been in the hands of the enemy for four months, and the Akatsuki have never been sloppy enough to leave live witnesses," Orochimaru observed. "We have to consider the possibility that they compromised her. Once Sparrow leaves her side, take Inoichi and go through her head with a fine toothed comb. If the Akatsuki broke or subverted her then kill her quietly and we'll give her a hero's funeral and a space on the monument."

Anko shivered but nodded. "As you wish," she murmured before departing to see his orders carried out.

* * *

Divested of his ANBU gear Neji was himself, dressed in the flowing white garb traditionally worn by the Hyuuga around Konohagakure. He sat in a chair by Tenten's bedside as she slept, an IV in her arm to replace much needed fluids and nutrients. Cleaned and with her wounds treated she looked almost human again, though her face was still gaunt and he could tell she'd been starved for some time and had lost muscle weight, her limbs thinner than he had ever seen them.

Still, the medical ninja were confident that her hands would heal cleanly, and none of her injuries were crippling. She would have a disheartening number of scars, particularly the poorly healed marks of the whip down her back, but she was going to recover. She would be okay, physically. The medics hadn't been as reassuring about her mental health, but Neji swore he would do whatever it took to see her recover, in body and mind.

It was dark outside, and Neji was weary from a long day of running to get Tenten back to Konohagakure, but he fought sleep. The previous four months had been hell. No hints or clues as to Tenten's fate had emerged. The Kazekage had been able to identify his assailant as Deidara, a nuke-nin formerly of Iwagakure, but no trace of the man or his accomplice had been found. Even Rock Lee and Gai had concluded after a few months that Tenten was probably dead at the hands of her captors, but Neji had refused to give up hope. When Tenten's family had held a memorial for her, he'd refused to attend, refused to believe she was dead. He wouldn't believe it until he saw the body.

Instead, he plunged into his work, volunteering for any mission that had anything to do with the mysterious terrorists known as "Akatsuki", after his status in ANBU had allowed him to access the secret intelligence files on the shadowy organization. Neji sustained himself by nurturing a fierce hatred for the secretive band of powerful nuke-nin whose goals were shrouded in secrecy. When a Leaf border patrol including one of Neji's Hyuuga clansmen had stumbled across an underground complex on the border with Iwagakure believed to belong to the Akatsuki, the Hokage had not hesitated to act. Neji, as Sparrow, had been picked to lead the investigation team. Finding Tenten had been an amazing relief, but seeing what the terrorists had done to her stoked his hatred higher than ever.

"I'll kill them all, Tenten. I swear it. Every last one of them will die for what they've done to you," Neji said to his sleeping teammate.

"A youthful statement of loyalty, Neji. Just don't let it cloud your judgment," a deep voice spoke from the room's doorway. "Gai-sensei!" Neji said, rising to his feet and turning to face the older green-clad shinobi. Gai's usual brilliant smile was replaced by a thoughtful frown as he looked at his former students. Technically they were both jounin, the same rank as Gai, but he would probably always be "sensei" to them.

"What brings you back?" Neji asked. Gai had visited earlier in the day, along with Rock Lee, Tenten's genin and her parents and siblings. She'd only come out of surgery that afternoon, and hadn't woken up yet.

Now Gai did smile wryly. "Visiting hours are over and you need to leave, but you've been putting out enough killing intent that the nurses are all too afraid to come in here and chase you out."

Guiltily, Neji reined in the anger that had been radiating off of him. "Sorry. It's just…"

Gai held up a hand. "I understand your youthful feelings of righteous anger, Neji. But none of us will be exacting vengeance for Tenten's treatment tonight. Come, you need to rest or you'll be no good to her come morning. She should have friendly faces nearby when she wakes."

Neji rubbed his face. "I don't know if I can sleep right now, sensei," he admitted. "When we found her, I… I could see everything they did to her, and now I see it every time I close my eyes."

Gai considered that. He didn't have the byakugan or access to Tenten's medical report, but he did possess the grim knowledge of what was often done to captured kunoichi during efforts to break their will. "Then let me treat you to a drink, Neji. Or several."

Neji considered that and then nodded. "That's probably a bad idea, but right now I don't care." Following his former teacher, Neji left the hospital to find a bar and hopefully consume enough sake to forget what he'd seen in that abandoned Akatsuki base, at least for one night.

* * *

Once Neji was far enough from the hospital to be out of the byakugan's range, two shinobi slipped into Tenten's hospital room through the window. The taller of the pair, a man in his forties with long blond hair caught in a ponytail, stepped up to the bedside. Carefully, he removed his gloves and placed one hand on Tenten's forehead. "This is the part of the Torture and Interrogations job I hate," Yamanaka Inoichi commented idly as his chakra snaked into Tenten's brain and began sifting through memories. "This poor woman has been violated enough by our enemies without allies getting in on the act."

"Can't say I'm wild about it either," Anko agreed, standing by the door and keeping an eye out for roaming nurses or anyone looking at the window. "Tenten deserves a medal for surviving even if they did break her, but you know we have to be sure the Akatsuki didn't leave any traps in her head ready to spring on us."

Inoichi grunted a wordless affirmation and then was silent for almost half an hour, unmoving with his face set in a look of concentration. When his hand left Tenten's forehead his expression turned to one of shock. "I'm honestly surprised. She fought them to the bitter end. They left her to die because she wouldn't break after months of torture."

"Are you kidding?" Anko asked in disbelief. She'd resigned herself to killing the girl on Orochimaru's orders. She didn't think a fresh 18 year old jounin could have held out for four months against the Akatsuki.

Inoichi shook his head. "She gave them nothing. Her mind is scarred, and a lot of her memories are… understandably scattered. Enough pain over enough time will do that, but she didn't talk, and she has enough memories of her captors that I recognized faces and I can time when they were at that base." He'd already removed a pad and pen from his vest and was writing down details before the memories faded. "Deidara's accomplice in the attack on the Kazekage was Sasori of the Red Sand. Sasori and that psycho Kakuzu from Takigakure did most of the interrogating and torturing."

When Inoichi was finished writing, he handed the pages to Anko. "We need more kunoichi like this one. I hope the Hokage realizes what a waste losing her would be."

Anko nodded. "Orochimaru-sama will be glad that she remained loyal. I'll make sure he knows."

The pair departed as silently as they had arrived.

* * *

Sunlight falling across Tenten's face slowly woke her up. For a moment she just stared at the plain white ceiling. _Where…. am I?_ Then she sat bolt upright. "Neji!" Tenten gasped as pain rippled through her body at the sudden movement, muted but present.

"Hey, hey… don't strain yourself. You're fine. You're safe," a calm male voice spoke, strong but gentle hands on her shoulders easing her back down onto the hospital bed. Tenten started to panic a bit as she got a glimpse of dark eyes, silver hair and a purple medic's uniform looming over her, until her eyes latched onto the Leaf hitai-ate wrapped around his arm. "Hyuuga Neji was by your side all day yesterday," he said comfortingly. "They had to drag him out of here to get some sleep. I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"I'm… I'm home?" she managed weakly, coughing. The silver-haired medic picked up a small juice box with a straw in it and held it to her mouth. Realizing how thirsty she was, Tenten drained it.

"Konohagakure Shinobi Hospital, Recovery Ward. You're safe," he told her. Relief filled Tenten, and she could feel moisture welling up in her eyes. "My name's Yakushi Kabuto, I'm the medical ninja charged with overseeing your recovery. You're going to be back on your feet in no time."

Nodding, Tenten began taking stock of her injuries. Her legs seemed to be fine, just weak and sluggish. When she couldn't move her hands, she pulled them from under the blankets with alarm, looking with dismay at the rigid casts on her fingers and hands. Memories of the delicate bones being broken one by one flashed through her head and she shuddered. "Kabuto…" she said, a note of worry in her voice.

"Don't worry," he said reassuringly. "The breaks are set and healing cleanly; your chakra network will heal with them. When the casts come off in about a month and a half, you'll retain full manual dexterity and ability in forming hand signs."

Tenten sighed in relief. Her hands were her livelihood, and permanent damage would be devastating. "Your stamina and strength took a hit from the lack of food and exercise, but I have a physical therapy plan ready; I'll have you back in fighting shape by the time your hands heal." Tenten nodded, and he hesitated. "We did what we could in surgery to minimize the scarring on your back, but I'm afraid it is extensive."

Tenten shook her head. The memories seemed more distant now, the fire of the lashes shredding her skin reduced to a dull ache and slight itch beneath the bandages. "If scars are the worst that comes out of this, I'll be fine." If her body still worked when she healed, she could live with cosmetic damage. Then something else occurred to her, and she pressed one cast-wrapped hand to her stomach. "That is the worst to come out of this, right?"

Kabuto lowered his face, sunlight from outside reflecting off of his glasses and hiding his eyes, his brow furrowing with anger for a moment before it smoothed out. "Your kunoichi seal was tampered with, but it held," he assured her quietly, eyes darting to the blankets over her hip, where active duty kunoichi had a medical seal tattooed into their skin to prevent pregnancy. "No surprises."

Tenten nodded at that reassurance and put it from her mind, or tried to, at least. She was startled to feel tears falling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Kabuto-san," she said as she swiped at them with her sleeve. "It's unbecoming of me-"

"Don't apologize," he reassured her. Kabuto moved to the room's door, his body hiding his actions from Tenten as he locked it. Then he moved around the bed, tugging the window's light curtains open, giving Tenten a view of the park outside. When Tenten had left Konohagakure for her posting in Sunagakure, the trees had been green and blooming. Now the branches were bare, and the winter breeze shook them.

"You missed the turning of the leaves," Kabuto observed conversationally. "Once they were green, but I watched as they faded, withered and fell."

_...turning of the leaves…._ Tenten blinked, a wave of lightheadedness washing over her. _…once they were green…_ Suddenly she felt dizzy. _…they faded, withered and fell_… faintly, pain stabbed at her temples.

Kabuto was standing over her bed now, his eyes strangely intent. "Kabuto?" Tenten whispered.

"With our diligence, the leaves can be healthy again. The long winter must end," he said softly. _…the leaves can be healthy again… long winter must end… _Each phrase hammered into Tenten's head and triggered a new wave of dizziness and nausea.

When the word "end" fell from his lips Tenten groaned, pressing her wounded hands to her head as a spike of pain shot through her brain, followed by a wave of lassitude. "What… did you do to me?" she gasped. Kabuto didn't answer immediately, and Tenten's eyes shot wide open. Something _shifted_ inside her head.

Sasori of the Red Sand was a master of fuuinjutsu, perhaps greater than the legendary Jiraiya. New memories, her _true_ memories of the last four months, flooded into Tenten's head as Kabuto's code phrases unlocked the string of breathtakingly delicate seals Sasori had placed in Tenten's mind. Sasori's skill had bordered on art, disguising the seals as mental scarring from months of brutal torture, convincing enough to fool even the vaunted skills of the Yamanaka clan.

When her gaze focused on Kabuto again, she was a different person: sharp, confident and unafraid. "Kami, that's a trip. Sasori didn't warn me how disorienting two sets of memories would be. You're my contact?" she asked.

Kabuto nodded. "I am. Your orders will come from Sasori-sama, of course, and I'll pass them on to you unless he feels the need to reach out to you directly."

"Understood." Glancing at her mangled hands again, and feeling the healing skin on her back, she grimaced. "Kakuzu enjoyed doing all this a little too much, I think. Tell me it worked."

Kabuto nodded. "Flawlessly. Your Hyuuga friend found you on the brink of death after the Akatsuki allowed the Leaf to find that base. Deidara-sama was furious about how long it took them to find you; he was close to scrapping the mission and pulling you out himself." A secretive smile flickered across Tenten's face at that.

"Sasori-sama's seals fooled the clan head of the Yamanaka, who snuck in here last night while you were still in recovery to pick your brain," he told her, irritation coloring his tone. "From what I've heard this morning, you're being lauded as a hero and the Hokage plans to pin a medal on you as soon as you are well enough to walk over to his office." Kabuto adjusted his glasses. "You should be proud. The Akatsuki haven't been able to insert a spy into Konohagakure's ninja corps without suspicion in a decade."

Tenten smiled sweetly. "I don't know what you're talking about, Kabuto. Everyone knows I'm the same person I've always been: a good, hardworking little Leaf kunoichi, killing and risking death for benefit of the monster that soils the office of the Hokage just by occupying it."

The silver-haired medic chuckled. "How could I forget?" Then his features became serious. "For now your only mission is recovery. By the time you're ready to be discharged, I'll have more for you." Then his head tilted slightly and he moved to the door. "You've got guests coming," he said as he unlocked it and slipped out. Tenten nodded, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, they were once again wary, uncertain eyes just starting to hope. The eyes of a recovering victim of horrific abuse, and certainly not the eyes of an enemy spy who had never felt surer of her path.

Then the happy, relieved faces of her mother, father and all four of her older siblings came through the door, and she was smiling, and giving and receiving careful hugs. _We shouldn't have to live and die by the whims of an unfit Hokage,_ she thought silently. She smiled when a few of her young nieces and nephews came into the room to see their "ninja auntie", crawling up onto her bed to sign the casts on her arms. _They shouldn't have to grow up in the village I did. There is another way._ She knew that now, all thanks to the Akatsuki.

* * *

_Four months earlier_

"Let's get started, shall we?"

Tenten tried not to flinch as the cell door swung closed, trapping her naked, chained and vulnerable with Sasori of the Red Sand, Sunagakure's most feared nuke-nin. "It doesn't matter what you do to me, I won't betray my village. So sure, let's get started."

"I'm glad to hear it," Sasori replied. "You won't believe me when I tell you this, but I don't want you to betray your village. I want you to save it."

"Well that's great; unchain me and I'll get right back to that."

"It's not quite that simple," Sasori said regretfully.

"It never is," Tenten said sourly, forcing herself to relax and lean back against the wall. "Go ahead and start with the threats, the torture, whatever you have planned. I'm going to disappoint you. I don't know as much as you think, and I won't tell you what I do."

"I disagree," Sasori said, crouching near her. "You know a great deal. Not about my organization, certainly, or you'd realize how wrong you're reading this situation, but you know quite a bit about your village's past, and about truths that few even in the shinobi world possess."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tenten said, uneasy. None of the mock interrogations in training had gone like this. Konohagakure's training focused around threats, drugs and fists or blades applied to sensitive areas of the body more than talking around in circles.

"I think you do," Sasori replied. He reached into his robe, and Tenten managed to avoid tensing up. _Here come the needles and thumbscrews._ But instead he only removed a small leather-bound book from his cloak. Tenten's eyes narrowed as she recognized her journal. _They raided my apartment?_ He placed it on the floor, then removed two more similar leather-bound books and put them beside the first. In the dim light, it took Tenten a moment to notice that the spine of each book was marred with four small scorch marks where the seals she had created were located. That meant he'd seen her real journals, not the years of superficial fluff she'd hidden her true thoughts and knowledge behind. _Not good._ Tenten's eyes moved from the books back to Sasori's calm face.

"And there's the fear," Sasori observed sadly as he looked into Tenten's eyes. "Not of me, though, which would be understandable; fear of your Hokage and the knowledge of what he'd do if he knew what was in these books."

_He would kill me. Slowly, probably painfully; denied the mercy of death until he was certain I hadn't shared what I learned with anyone else._ Tenten swallowed hard and then shook her head. "That's not enough." At Sasori's curious glance, she elaborated. "The Hokage would kill me for what's in those books. But that's just because he's a bastard. If I betray my oaths as a shinobi of Konohagakure, that's a whole different level of reprisal. He wouldn't just kill me; he'd kill my whole family. That's what happens to Leaf ninja who betray the village, unless their relatives are as highly placed as Uchiha Itachi's, and mine aren't." Tenten paused. "If you've read my journals, you know all this. So why are we having this conversation?"

"What is that oath you've sworn to uphold?"

Tenten's eyes narrowed. "You know what it is; you've already betrayed it. The structure is the same in each village."

"I do know, and don't consider myself to have betrayed Sunagakure," Sasori acknowledged, "but I want to hear it from you."

"To defend Konohagakure and serve the Hokage."

"So what is a shinobi to do when the two pieces of that oath can't be upheld at once?" Tenten said nothing, but Sasori continued. "What happens when the village needs to be defended from the kage?"

"Doesn't happen."

"Come now, we both know better than that. Kirigakure hasn't had a Mizukage that the villagers _didn't_ need to be protected from. Konohagakure had a better run – three good kages is more than any of the other villages can claim – but the Yondaime Hokage is unfit to rule and we both know it."

"Yes, Orochimaru is a stain and he disgraces the uniform he wears. So what?" Tenten demanded angrily. "Here's a piece of recent history from Konohagakure that you might not know; since the end of the Third Shinobi War, twice as many Leaf ninja have fallen by the Hokage's hand than by foreign enemies. When the ANBU aren't listening I've heard other jounin talk about how our village is becoming "the Bloody Leaf". The graveyard is full of ninja who opposed Orochimaru, and their families are lying right next to them. So I'm sorry if you thought you were going to convince me to help you scheme against the Hokage, I won't and you might as well kill me."

"Everything you've just said is true. It's true in the other villages as well. The kages have found a peace based on tyranny and bloodshed to be profitable, and safer for them. They're free to focus on maintaining iron control over their own villages because they're not fighting wars anymore. Together they're more powerful than the daimyos, and they know it. What if I told you there was a better way, a way to dethrone the tyrants and create better leadership for all the villages?"

"I'd call you a liar. It can't be done. A dozen lesser villages couldn't stand against them, and a few S-class nuke-nins do not a revolution make. You couldn't even finish the Kazekage, and Orochimaru's pet jinchuuriki is stronger than the Monster of the Bloody Sand. Hell, I'm a fresh jounin and I tricked you. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of your collective skill."

Sasori smiled, not seeming offended in the least. "You sell yourself far short, and you underestimate the Akatsuki, but I'm not asking you to take all this on faith. Get up; I want to show you something." Sasori rose to his feet, and the cell door opened, revealing Deidara, who handed Sasori a white robe.

Tenten gingerly rose to her feet, and Sasori wrapped her in the robe, specially made to go over and around the chains. Tenten had to take short steps and couldn't raise her arms above her waist while standing, but after some adjustment she had no trouble following Sasori, Deidara falling in step behind her.

Despite her skepticism, Tenten was curious what Sasori wanted to see. She didn't think there was anything the nuke-nin could show her to convince her to betray the Hokage, but the more of her prison she saw, the better her chances of learning something important or escaping. So she followed without complaint, ready to listen if nothing else.


	4. The Cost of Deception

**Chapter 4: The Cost of Deception**

* * *

Six months after being discharged from the hospital and resuming her official duties as a jounin instructor and her unofficial work as an enemy spy, Tenten stood in the office of the Hokage, summoned there along with the other jounin sensei who had genin teams with at least a year's experience out of the academy.

"This year's Chuunin Exams will be held in Kumogakure in three months' time," Orochimaru informed them. "I await your decisions on entering your teams."

They answered in order of team number, as was tradition. "Team Two's answer," Ebisu said as he stepped forward and placed a sealed envelope on the table. Anko, standing beside the Hokage's desk, took it and read the contents.

Under the Sandaime Hokage the instructors had announced their team's participation openly. Orochimaru had a different system, a test within a test. Jounin instructors informed him of their decision secretly, and after that the genin teams and their sensei had to try and figure out who else from their village they'd potentially be facing in the exam. _Ebisu will enter his team,_ Tenten decided. Ebisu's genin, lead by Sarutobi Konohamaru, the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage, had shown promise.

"Team Three's answer," Genma announced, depositing his envelope with a swish of the senbon gripped in his teeth. _They will definitely be entered._ Genma had received one of the most unusual genin teams in recent memory, but no one denied they had been shaped into a formidable heavy combat unit. It was rare for relatives to be placed on the same team, but Genma's genin were identical triplets, scions of the Inuzuka clan. The three boys had been eerily in tune with each other since they were toddlers, and their clan combination techniques, now backed up by the three ninken the brothers had bonded with, made them too powerful together to split up.

Expectant gazes turned to Tenten. "Team Four's answer," she said, handing Anko the envelope with the form entering her team in the exam.

Anko's eyes flickered, but she said nothing. Tenten had expected skepticism. After her capture Rock Lee had taken a leave of absence from the academy to train and watch over her students until a new jounin instructor could be found. They hadn't been able to take missions for months since Lee hadn't been a jounin at first. He'd actually passed the jounin exam towards the end of Tenten's captivity and would have become their permanent sensei if she hadn't returned.

Ken had been thrilled to have Lee as their sensei, but Tenten's first visitors in the hospital after her family had been Amaya and Kaede, who – after reassuring themselves that she was all right – begged her to save them from Konohagakure's second Green Beast. Apparently Lee and Ken's "youthful" embraces were just as visually disturbing as Gai and Lee's man-hugs had been.

Left to her own devices Tenten would have played it safe and not risked her girls in an exam in a foreign village without another year of seasoning, but Kabuto had passed on orders from Sasori last week; he wanted her in Kumogakure for the Chuunin Exams. Ultimately, despite their youth Tenten was confident that her students were capable of meeting the challenge. Amaya had activated her sharingan on their first mission after Tenten returned to active status, a nasty fight with some bandits and a pair of chuunin-level nuke-nin who lead them. Kaede had been receiving extra lessons from her clan in the use of her kikai bugs, and Ken had flourished under Rock Lee's tutelage, opening three Inner Gates by the time Lee was done with him. The time hadn't improved his fashion sense any, but he was a skilled taijutsu specialist, and unlike Lee Ken had normal chakra coils and could perform basic ninjutsu.

Nara Shikamaru, the only other jounin Tenten's age who currently had a genin team, handed over his envelope, referring to the whole process as "troublesome". Tenten honestly didn't know if Shikamaru would enter his team, which consisted of a young man from the Yamanaka clan, a kunoichi from the Akamichi clan and another boy from one of the minor clans absorbed after the fall of Takigakure. They weren't much older than her students, and Shikamaru was impossible to get a read on, always had been.

"Team Six will not compete," Sarutobi Asuma growled with a look of irritation on his face, not bothering to hand over an envelope. After a moment of stunned silence, some jounin protested their exclusion while others looked relieved.

Asuma's genin were fifteen and the most experienced of any team under consideration. They were Hyuuga Hanabi, a byakugan user; Moroshi Tanai, a green-haired boy from a newly formed clan of Grass kekkei genkai users, and Nara Shimi, one of Shikamaru's shadow-wielding cousins. Tenten met Shikamaru's eyes and then both of them glanced at the room's last occupant, standing by the door.

"Asuma has withdrawn his team from competition in Kumogakure at my request," Hyuuga Hiashi stated firmly. "The Raikage has coveted the byakugan for decades, and I will not send my daughter or any other member of my clan into his grasp." Those who hadn't understood before did now. Hiashi had lost his twin brother to Cloud's schemes when his eldest daughter was an infant.

Orochimaru spoke up. "As we are of course sensitive to the security concerns of the Hyuuga clan, we will conduct a private evaluation of Asuma's team here in Konohagakure after the exams, and promote his students internally as appropriate."

Asuma still looked annoyed on behalf of his students, and Tenten could understand why. While merit promotions internal to the village produced most chuunin (and all of the jounin), the Chuunin Exams were more than just a means of being promoted; they were a chance for aspiring elite shinobi to showcase their skills. The audience would include the daimyos, as well as the wealthy nobles and merchants who dispensed many of the most lucrative contracts to the villages and frequently requested specific shinobi. Forming connections with those prospective clients could land shinobi lucrative repeat business, or even prestigious and well-paid positions in the daimyo's personal guard. Asuma himself wore the white sash of the Twelve Guardians and had served as the Fire Daimyo's guard in his youth.

"Those of you who have chosen to compete, make your squads ready for the exams. You all know the penalty for failing to reach the Final Round." Another of Orochimaru's rules once he became Hokage was that any genin team that failed to reach the Chuunin Exam's Final Round couldn't compete the following year, and any jounin sensei whose teams failed twice in their career was barred from further instruction of future genin, a source of significant income and prestige. "We leave for Kumogakure in two months. Dismissed," Orochimaru instructed them. The jounin commanders filed out of the room.

* * *

Tenten met her genin on Training Field Fourteen that afternoon. Ken showed up first, falling into his usual routine of habitual exercise until Amaya dropped from the trees, and Kaede strolled out of the forest, hands in the pockets of her voluminous overcoat.

"So did you enter us in the Chuunin Exams, sensei?" Amaya asked straight off.

Tenten raised an eyebrow at the young Uchiha. "What makes you think the entries have been decided?" The teams from Konohagakure entered wouldn't be announced publicly until the start of the exams.

Amaya rolled her eyes. "Half the village has heard Konohamaru bragging, going on about how he's going to win the Chuunin Exams and prove himself worthy of being Hokage."

"The Inuzuka brothers have also been quite… vocal in congratulating themselves on their participation and predicting dire fates for their opponents," Kaede added quietly.

Ken was frowning. "You have to enter us, sensei! I can't let Konohamaru get ahead of me! He's my rival in becoming Hokage!"

"Ken…" Tenten said patiently. "Do you think Konohamaru and the Inuzuka boys are being wise, announcing to everyone that they've been entered in the exam?"

"Well… yeah. Everyone has to acknowledge them as the strongest genin in the village if they're going to the exam!"

Amaya's eyes lit up in understanding. "They're not being smart, sensei. They're not the only Leaf teams going, are they? Now everyone else who's going knows to prepare to face them."

Kaede nodded. "They've been so loud that word might actually reach the embassies of the other villages, and then the foreign genin would be told, too."

"That's right," Tenten said, pleased. "The entries are secret for a reason, and those boys have disadvantaged themselves for the sake of their pride. What place does pride have in a ninja's life?"

"None," all three genin answered. It was something Tenten had drilled into them from day one: confidence in one's skill and self-knowledge were essential for a ninja, but unwonted pride and arrogance were dangerous. The graveyards of hidden villages were full of the remains of proud young ninja.

"So did you enter us?" Ken asked.

Tenten looked at all three seriously. "You know your abilities, and you know the other genin teams from our village. You should also know that this year's exams are being held in Kumogakure, a village that doesn't allow its own genin to complete until they've been in the field for three years, minimum. Every other team in this year's exam will be older and more experienced than you. Do you think you can perform well enough on a field like that to reach the final round? Remember that if you don't make it to the final round, you'll be barred from competing in the next exam. Next year's exams will be here in Konohagakure, with a more favorable field of contestants."

Amaya looked at Kaede, who nodded, and Ken, who gave her a thumbs-up. "Our youthful strength will see us through!"

Amaya grimaced at that statement, but looked at Tenten steadily. "I do. We're a team, and we've had great teachers."

Tenten smiled. "Good," she said quietly. "Now I need all three of you need to look really disappointed, like I just told you that I didn't enter you this year." Ken's dismayed and confused look was completely genuine. Amaya on the other hand, got it instantly and killed a grin, instead crossing her arms angrily.

"But sensei, we're ready for the Chuunin Exam! You know we are!" Amaya's high voice carried clearly to the trees.

"This is a mistake," Kaede said with a note of disappointment in her voice. Tenten noticed a handful of kikai bugs dropping out of Kaede's coat and flying away low to the grass.

"We don't get to go?" Ken said, puzzled. Amaya stomped on his foot. "Ow! What did you do that for- oh," he said as he finally got it. "That's not fair, sensei! If Konohamaru becomes chuunin before I do, I'll never catch up to him!"

Tenten let the genin argue and complain, replying to their shouts with observations that their emotional reactions proved they weren't ready. Eventually, her sense of two nearby hidden presences faded, and some of Kaede's bugs returned. "They're gone, sensei. It was Udon from Konohamaru's team, and one of the Inuzuka boys' dogs."

"Good work," Tenten congratulated them.

"So we are going to the exams?" Ken asked hopefully.

"You are, yes, and your first assignment for the exams is to make sure no one finds out you're going. As far as anyone is concerned, even your families, I held you back from the exams. I am going to train all of you in preparation, but we're also going to maintain the pretense of being a normally operating team that _isn't_ participating, so we'll take a few short missions to deflect suspicion. We're also not going to travel to Kumogakure with the Hokage's procession. That means no big parade and no servants setting up comfy tents, but it also gives us more time to train, and it means that your fellow Leaf genin won't know you're in the competition until they see your names on the roster. Meanwhile, you'll all be preparing to face them, and the foreign shinobi you're likely to encounter."

Tenten reflected on the advantage they wouldn't even know they had, thanks to the Akatsuki. When Sasori had ordered her to take her team to the Chuunin Exams, she'd requested information on the competing genin teams from other villages. Sasori had delivered, and Kabuto had handed her some sealed folders just two days earlier, currently hidden in the safe in her apartment that ANBU _didn't_ know about. She'd be able to prepare her students for everyone they'd face, not just the other ninja from Leaf.

Amaya and Kaede exchanged a glance. "I don't know about the Aburame, but now that my sharingan is active, my clan is expecting me to go to the exams, and they'll be upset with you if I tell them I'm not going. I don't want to cause trouble for you, sensei. If I tell them it's a secret they won't spread it around."

"I'm not trying to impugn the honor of your clan, Amaya, but as shinobi you need to understand the only secret that is safe is one that's shared by as few people as possible. Chuunin are privy to secrets that they can't share with their families. I know you trust your relatives, but do you trust all the servants on the Uchiha compound? The people who work underfoot are easy to forget, but they have eyes and ears, and a coin in their hand can buy what they learn." Amaya frowned, but nodded reluctantly.

"As for the ire of your relatives, let me worry about that," Tenten reassured them. "Now, I want to know how each of you is planning to prepare for the exams."

"Yosh!" Ken exclaimed. "I will run five hundred laps around the training ground! Then I will do a thousand push-ups! Then I will spar with Lee-sensei! Then-" he trailed off when Tenten shook her head.

"Ken, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that your physical conditioning and taijutsu are better than just about any other genin out there. That doesn't mean you need to stop practicing, but you need to think about what's going to happen in the final rounds if you find yourself facing an opponent who doesn't fight head-on. What are you going to do against a Mist ninja who's a genjutsu specialist without Amaya there to break the illusions? What if you have to fight genin from Iwagakure who can disappear underground, or a long range specialist from the Cloud village who's going to try and fry you with lightning jutsus before you ever get close enough to hit him?" Tenten couched them as generic examples, but she knew from Sasori's reports that genin with those abilities would be in the exams. The other villages were fielding a strong batch of genin, but at least no one was entering any jinchuuriki this year, like they had for Tenten's first Chuunin Exam.

Ken was looking troubled and thoughtful once she was finished. "So… I should focus on other abilities?"

"That's right. I'm going to work with you on resisting genjutsu. You actually have an advantage over Lee, since you have the chakra to break illusions on your own, but you're going to need to get better at recognizing them." Tenten paused. "I've also asked my former sensei, Maito Gai, to meet with you next weekend and evaluate your suitability for learning one of his special abilities."

Ken's eyes got big. "I get to train with Gai-sensei?" he asked eagerly.

"If he decides you're capable of learning what I've asked him to teach you, yes. Make sure you get some rest before you go to see him."

"Yosh!"

Tenten turned to Kaede. "What about you?"

Kaede didn't reply right away. "I will seek advanced training for my kikai bugs from my clan. I will tell them that I wish to improve myself so that my sensei cannot deny me a space in the exams next year."

Tenten nodded. "That's good. Spreading misinformation and training at the same time. The kikai bugs are useful in a wide variety of situations; Shino's have saved my life more than once. What will you do against an opponent who neutralizes your bugs? Mist and Cloud ninja can produce wide-ranging water or lightning attacks to damage large parts of your hive, there are Rock ninja who exhale clouds of poison gas through earth element techniques, and of course you may encounter Leaf genin like Amaya capable of using fire jutsus to simply burn your hive. The bugs also lose many of their advantages if an opponent gets close to you. You can't always rely on Amaya and Ken to keep opponents at a distance, and they won't be there for you in the final rounds."

Kaede considered that. "I am not the first Aburame to be faced with these challenges," she reasoned. "I will inquire as to how my elders have dealt with this situation."

"That's a good idea," Tenten told her. "Ask your uncle Shino for a demonstration of the weapons he keeps up the sleeves of that coat of his. Once you've talked to them come see me and we can plan out how to spend our time over the next few months." Kaede nodded silently.

Tenten's eyes turned to Amaya. "You've had the most time to think about it, Amaya. How are you going to improve?"

"I want to perfect my chakra control within a month," Amaya said confidently. "I was hoping you could help me, sensei."

"I'd be happy to assist you with that, but I'm curious as to what your end goal is. Chakra control by itself is useful in battle only as a means to an end."

Amaya told her with an impish smile, and when Tenten was done laughing, she agreed without hesitation.

* * *

That evening, Tenten sat on a stool at one of the bars frequented by jounin, nursing a beer and trying to look worried. It seemed to be working. Ebisu and Genma had already stopped by to let her know that they felt she had made the right decision in holding her team back from the exams. It was hard not to laugh in their faces, but if her students could keep up the act, so could she. The talk with Shikamaru had been far more nerve-wracking. He'd heard the rumors too, but was more curious about how she intended to handle the reactions of the Uchiha and Aburame. They'd played a game of shogi over bar peanuts, Tenten lost with good grace, and Shikamaru left without Tenten being any closer to figuring out of he had entered his team or not. When Tenten had ordered her genin to keep their entry secret even from their families, it hadn't been because she was worried about Ebisu or Genma finding out; she wanted to keep Shikamaru in the dark, and even with all the precautions she gave herself no better than even odds of succeeding.

The crowd was thinning out when a new arrival tapped Tenten on the shoulder. Looking up, she saw Anko leaning on the bar with a twisted grin on her face and a drink in hand. "Come sit with me," the purple-haired woman said, jerking her thumb to one of the private booths in the back. It wasn't a request.

"Of course, Mitarashi-sama," Tenten replied, picking up her drink and following the Hokage's wife. Sliding the curtain aside, Tenten slid into the private booth opposite Anko. They were alone.

Anko winced at the formal mode of address. "Tenten, unless we're in the Hokage's office it's just Anko." Tenten nodded in acceptance. "Now, I'm a little put out with you," Anko continued, "I had a pair of irate Uchiha clan elders in my office earlier this evening, demanding that their granddaughter's genin team be placed with a different jounin sensei, one who would enter her in the Chuunin Exams, since her current and 'obviously unfit' sensei had not." Tenten held up one hand apologetically before Anko could continue, and made three quick hand signs, surrounding their booth with a privacy jutsu. Anko leaned across the table, eyes narrowed. "Two hours I had to listen to them bitch at me, Tenten. You're lucky I'm forbidden from talking about the nominations submitted by the jounin sensei or I would have told them the truth just to get rid of them."

Tenten took a long drink to keep herself from laughing. Anko looked annoyed enough already, and Tenten reminded herself that the other woman had a short fuse and poisonous snakes up her sleeves. "I'm sorry that happened, Anko," Tenten said, trying to sound sincere and suppress the mirth in her voice. "They were supposed to come to me with their complaints."

"Oh, they will," Anko said, sounding satisfied. "I informed them that the Hokage would not be reassigning any genin teams to new instructors until after the exams, so if they wanted to change any mind, it would have to be yours." Tenten had a moment to be relieved that Anko wasn't mad anymore before she saw the malicious glint in the older kunoichi's eyes.

"What else did you do?" Tenten asked suspiciously.

Instantly, Anko was a model of affronted innocence. "I would never stoop so low as to seek revenge on one of my cute subordinates for siccing her student's irate grandparents on me to conceal her team's entry into the Chuunin Exams," Anko proclaimed, before ruining it with a malevolent smile. "Just like I wouldn't mention in passing that I was meeting that cute subordinate for drinks after work and let said grandparents follow me."

Blinking, Tenten was suddenly aware of a pair of substantial and _angry_ chakra presences; they were nearby and coming closer. "You didn't," Tenten said, eyes widening. She was edging for the exit to the booth and mentally evaluating escape routes when she felt something cool and _scaly_ wrap around her calf, binding it to the leg of the bench under the table. An alarmed glance revealed it to be a snake. Tenten checked the colors. _Yup, it's poisonous._

"Ahh… Anko?" Tenten asked, feeling the first beads of sweat on her forehead.

"Oh, don't mind Kasumi, Tenten," Anko said with an evil smile. "She's just likes being affectionate sometimes. She'll be on her way in a few _hours_, and she probably won't bite you… as long as you don't move much." With that, Anko got up from her seat. "Have fun." With a cheery wave she was gone.

Feeling a growing sense of desperation, Tenten glanced back under the table. "I don't suppose I could bribe you with some live mice or something if you let me go," she said to the snake. If it had a name, it was probably a summoned animal and intelligent enough to understand her. "Anything in the pet store, really. Just let me get out of here and it's yours."

The snake looked _amused_ as it shook its blunt head. "You're going to have to listen to them too," she warned the reptile. It let out a resigned hiss, but didn't loosen its grip. "Fuck," Tenten muttered. She'd known she would have to deal with Amaya's relatives, but she'd hoped to put it off and handle them in a more official setting. Preferably in public, with _witnesses_. She was pretty sure they wouldn't kill her with other people watching.

The private booth's curtain moved aside, and a pair of dignified, gray-haired Uchiha slid into the opposite side of the booth where Anko had sat. "Elder Taka. Elder Chihuya. What a pleasant surprise."

A waitress came by, and the pair ordered some tea. When the curtain closed again one set of sharingan started spinning, then the other. "Why hello there dear," Elder Chihuya said in a matronly voice that was about as soft and cuddly as a katana blade. "I'm so glad we caught up with you. You see, we've heard the most disturbing rumors about the entries to the Chuunin Exams, and we wanted to make you aware of them. It wouldn't do for a simple mistake to cost our granddaughter _and her sensei_ their chance at future advancement." The old harridan's tea arrived, and she sipped contentedly from the small cup. "It is incorrect what we've heard about Amaya's team not being nominated for the Chuunin Exams, isn't it?"

"No, you heard correctly." Tenten winced at the wave of killing intent that crossed the table, and set out trying to get her favorite student to the Chuunin Exams unnoticed without being murdered by the girl's relatives.

* * *

By the time she made it home, Tenten was sufficiently exhausted that she was actually opening her front door before it registered that there was someone inside her apartment. The lanterns were lit, and there was noise coming from the kitchen. Drawing a kunai, Tenten edged along the wall, peering around the corner.

"Good evening, Tenten," Neji said from his spot in front of the stove without turning around. He tossed the contents of the wok he was holding over the flames, making the contents sizzle.

On her first mission in the field as part of Team Gai six years earlier, Tenten had expected to end up doing all of the cooking as the only female in the squad. To her surprise Neji had taken on half of the food preparation without complaint. Lee and Gai were both hopeless at cooking, but they were happy to fetch firewood and fresh water in the evening, so it worked out well.

Neji had reacted to Tenten's shock that a _Hyuuga_ knew how to cook with a bitterly amused smile. "Members of the main family like Hinata don't know how to cook, Tenten. In the branch family, though, we don't have servants. We learn to cook, clean and do our own laundry."

"Neji!" Tenten exclaimed with surprise. "You're back early." Making the kunai disappear back into her pouch, she strolled into the kitchen. "That smells great," she commented.

"Thanks," Stirring the meat and vegetables in the wok, Neji shrugged. "We caught a lucky break, the nuke-nin they sent us to deal with were easier to find than we thought. They were pushovers, some degenerates wearing old Hoshigakure headbands, but they didn't have any of the meteor power they were famed for."

Tenten leaned back on the counter. "I see," she said. _I'd be surprised if they did, since Kumogakure took their meteor almost thirty years ago,_ she thought, but kept that to herself. After all, Neji didn't know she'd seen the ruins of Hoshigakure and knew exactly how brutally the Cloud ninja had butchered their former neighbors down to the last woman and child they could find.

"You look exhausted," Neji commented as he took the food off of the stove and divided it onto two plates.

Tenten nodded glumly as they sat down at the table. "I'm still alive, and I consider that a victory." _Damn you, Anko…_ "I spent the last few hours being alternatively lectured and threatened by Amaya's grandparents."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "You decided not to enter your genin in the Chuunin Exams?" he asked neutrally.

"Their families and everyone else think so, and that's how it's going to stay, no matter how many creepy sharingan they point at me. They'll get over it once they actually attend the exams, and maybe they'll stop thinking they're the only ones who know what's good for Amaya," Tenten declared before digging into the food. "Neji, this is delicious!"

Maybe it was a bit hypocritical to tell Neji after forbidding her students from telling anyone, but she _knew_ Neji would keep the secret, and she couldn't say the same for every member of Kaede and Amaya's clans. Ken was easy at least; he'd become a ninja to help provide for his civilian family, and they had no clue about or interest in the Chuunin Exams.

Neji laughed, and shook his head. "So basically, you invited it on yourself?"

Tenten growled at him, but it lacked feeling. "Apparently I invited it on Anko, who chose to retaliate by trapping me in the jounin bar, out of uniform and beer in hand and _alone_ with the pair of them. Not the setting I had wanted to have that conversation in."

Neji winced. "Nasty. Still, the worst is over, unless the Aburame decide to retaliate. You may want to check your bed for bugs tonight."

Tenten shook her head. "I never had a chance of keeping it secret from the Aburame. I _know_ how many of the insects flitting around the village report to that clan. Shino and Shibi, at least, already know, but they'll respect my intention to keep Kaede's entry a secret. I just didn't want her spreading the news all over her clan compound."

Stirring her food, Tenten frowned. "The only person I'm worried about is Shikamaru. I have no idea if he entered his genin, but if he did he'll be on the lookout for which other teams are entered. I don't _think_ he can read me any better than I can read him, but no one's 100% certain what goes on in that man's head except Ino and she has two advantages I don't." Neji looked at her curiously. "One, she's sleeping with him, and two she actually can read his mind." He snorted in amusement.

When they were done with dinner, Tenten cleaned the dishes, and the pair of them sat down on the couch. Neji picked up the book they had been reading together on the rare nights when they were both in the village and free from duty, a romance of star-crossed shinobi from enemy villages, and they read together by lantern light. After a while, Neji's arm slipped around her shoulder. A little while later, during a particularly touching passage in which the young man soliloquized his devotion to his beloved, Tenten was already starting to nod off when Neji's face grew closer to hers. She looked up, and before she fully realized it their lips met.

Tenten stiffened and pulled away. "Neji, I… I can't. I'm sorry," she said quietly.

He drew back, taking his arm from her shoulder, shaking his head. "No, Tenten I should be the one apologizing. That was thoughtless of me." He took a deep breath. "I should go. I'll see you later?" Tenten nodded wordlessly. Neji rose to his feet, headed out onto her balcony, then leapt onto the rooftops and was gone.

Alone, Tenten let herself flop down onto the warm spot on the couch he had left, rubbing her face with her hands. "I am the worst person ever," she whispered to herself.

Neji had been her first, back when they had both been chuunin, and they had been 'friends with benefits' for years prior to her capture by the Akatsuki. Back then, it had been Tenten who wished the relationship could be more than it was, but the realities of clan politics interfered: Neji may have been a branch Hyuuga, but he was also the strongest Hyuuga in a generation, and as such his marriage would be decided by his uncle and the clan elders, and it would not be to a clanless kunoichi whose father was a blacksmith. She'd already figured out they would never be more than lovers when he'd apologetically explained it years ago, and she'd accepted that.

Her time with the Akatsuki had changed everything. Tenten understood now that what she had felt for Neji was a combination of youthful infatuation and the allure of a safe harbor in a village where a young kunoichi couldn't trust most of the men around her. More importantly, her heart now belonged to another, a man who was undertaking dangerous work nations away – a man who wore a black cloak with red clouds.

However, maintaining her cover meant that upon Tenten's return she had been forced to pretend that her feelings hadn't changed. She knew that even after being cleared by the Yamanaka that she was still on the ANBU's watch list, and would be for years. As such, she had to be above suspicion. Unfortunately, during her absence Neji's feelings had only grown stronger, and he was more committed to her than ever. It was problematic, since Tenten was strictly a one-guy kind of girl, and Neji wasn't that guy anymore. Tenten had needed a reason to keep Neji at arm's length without arousing the suspicion that a breakup without an explanation would create. Any abrupt change in her life after returning to the village would be put under a microscope.

At first, the cover story of imprisonment and torture Tenten had concocted to facilitate her reinsertion into Konohagakure had seemed to provide a solution to the problem it created. The wounds she had been found with had all been real of course, but suffering them had been her idea. Sasori, Deidara, Hidan and Konan had all tried to talk her out of it, accepting the plan reluctantly because they didn't have an idea with a better chance of success for how Tenten could return to Konohagakure without being executed out of hand by the famously paranoid Hokage. Tenten hadn't actually been raped any more than she had been truly tortured; Kakuzu, the Akatsuki's expert on torture, had inflicted the wounds on her back and broken bones as professionally as he could, and Konan had reluctantly helped Tenten simulate the internal injuries with the aid of a blunted rod.

But Neji and her other friends in Konohagakure believed she had been violated by her captors, so when she shrank away from his slightest touch after returning home he accepted it, hiding the hurt she saw flash in his pale eyes. She'd expected, had hoped, that he would give up on her as damaged goods and move on, but she had badly underestimated his resolve. Half a year later he was still a perfect gentleman, almost moving into her apartment to look after her when she'd left the hospital, spending time with her, cooking meals for her, and rarely initiating any physical contact. That brief kiss was as bold as he'd been in the last six months.

Tenten could see how much he cared, and how much her feigned fragility hurt him. She still cared about him as a friend, and her escape from intimacy with him had become torture for both of them. She was beginning to wonder what she could do if he didn't move on soon. She wanted to believe that enough time had passed that she was above suspicion, but she still saw ANBU out of the corner of her eye too often to believe that.

With those cheerful thoughts in her head, Tenten tried to go to sleep. She had a lot to teach her students in the next three months, and she couldn't let her cover and her perfectly messed up relationship with Neji distract her from that, as much as she wanted to curl up into a ball of shame just thinking about it.


	5. Cloud Watching

**Chapter 5: Cloud Watching**

* * *

_Tenten among the Akatsuki, Week 2_

Wearing the chakra-absorbing chains and the simple white robe, Tenten sat behind a table in a small room in the Akatsuki base, lit by a single overhead light, while Sasori and Deidara loomed over her on the other side of the table.

Slightly stunned, Tenten struggled to process what she had seen in the large cavern under the base that Sasori had shown her. Thinking about the massive statue she'd seen there, and the man cloaked in shadows who sat on its upraised hand, her mind reeled. She hadn't been able to see any features of the man the Akatsuki called "Leader" save for the impossible eyes that bored into her soul, but that had been enough to terrify her even before they described the purpose of the statue.

"Let's say I believe you," Tenten said quietly. She wasn't sure why she cared now; they would never let her leave this place alive after letting her see what they had shown her. "Let's say you do have a chance against the Hidden Villages. What do you want from me? What difference could I possibly make?"

"Information," Sasori told her bluntly. "Getting intelligence out of Konohagakure is like pulling teeth."

Tenten looked at him with frank disbelief. "What possible reason would I have to tell you anything now?"

Deidara frowned. "Because you want to help your village, and we can get rid of that snake Orochimaru?"

Sasori shook his head at his younger partner. "That's not what she means, Deidara. Remember she's grown up under Orochimaru's rule," he said, gazing calmly at Tenten. "She doesn't believe that we would let her live after showing her our secrets."

"Am I wrong?" Tenten asked with narrowed eyes.

Sasori nodded. "You are. I would like your cooperation, and I have no reason to kill you. Here, I'll prove it to you." Stepping around the table, Sasori's hand came out of his sleeve holding a piece of paper with a seal she didn't recognize drawn on it. She drew back, but the chains limited her range of motion, and Sasori pressed the paper to her temple, and she felt his chakra surge through it.

Tenten shuddered as a wintry chill passed through her skull, like her head had just been dunked in ice water. "What was that?" she demanded.

"You'll see in a moment. What's your favorite food?" Sasori asked suddenly.

_What the hell kind of a question is- _"My mother's rice balls," Tenten said, blinking as the word came from her lips without her permission.

"What was your standing on graduation from your ninja academy?" Sasori asked.

"Fifth overall, first among kunoichi," she answered promptly, dismay and confusion plain on her face as her lips continued to move without her permission.

"How many siblings do you have?"

Tenten clenched her jaw, but it didn't help. "I'm the youngest of five; two older brothers, two older sisters." When Sasori didn't ask another question, Tenten stared at him. "What did you do to me?"

"Stand up," he said instead of answering, and Tenten's muscles acted without her input. Sasori did something to her chains that caused them to open and fall to the floor. He placed a kunai on the table in front of her. "Pick it up," he instructed. She did. "Cut your throat," Sasori commanded. Horrified, Tenten felt her arm rise to obey. Sasori's hand caught her wrist, stopping the blade inches from her skin, her arm's muscles straining against his grip to plunge the blade into her neck.

"If I wished it, the seal I placed in your mind would compel you to tell me whatever I wish to know and perform whatever task I wish you to complete. I do this not to frighten or intimidate you, but to convince you that I have no need to kill you. If I wished to be rid of you, a different mental fuuinjutsu would erase your memory of everything you have learned about us. I honestly would like you to help us and your village of your own free will, but if you truly cannot trust me and rise to this opportunity, I won't kill you." Seeing the understanding in her eyes, he said softly, "Drop the kunai." The weapon fell to the floor. Releasing her wrist, he tapped her temple with gentle fingers. "Release," he murmured.

The piece of paper stuck to her skin dissolved and Tenten felt heat sink into her skin from his touch. Her muscles obeyed her once more. She staggered back a few steps, looking at Sasori with a mixture of awe and fear. She couldn't even begin to imagine the depth of fuuinjutsu mastery required to do what he had just done to her. Even in the sections of the Konohagakure library jounins could access, none of the tomes had even hinted at the ability to apply fuuinjutsu seals directly to a target's mind.

"You really intent to defeat Orochimaru?" she asked after a long silence.

"Not one of the kages of the five villages is fit to lead. We intend to remove all of them from power and break the tyrannical alliance they have formed," Sasori stated.

_This is crazy. I shouldn't even be thinking about this. Yet… knowing there's a chance to fix Konohagakure, how can I not?_ Sasori looked in her eyes and saw her resistance waning. "I understand you're worried about reprisals from the Hokage against those close to you, but I can ensure he never knows you have aided us," he reassured her. "You wrote in your journals of nieces and nephews. Don't you want them to grow in a village more like the one Sarutobi Hiruzen ruled than the one Orochimaru had created?"

Tenten's shoulders slumped in resignation. "All right," Tenten said, taking a deep breath. "I'll help you take down the Hokage, but I won't participate in indiscriminate attacks on my village like the one you two pulled in Sunagakure. Lots of Konohagakure's ninja are good people who do their duty to protect the village; they deserve to be free of Orochimaru's reign."

"That's acceptable. We prefer to minimize bloodshed when possible. The diversionary attack on Sunagakure's gate was a regrettable necessity. So you're willing to fight with us, as well as provide information on Konohagakure?" Sasori asked.

Tenten shrugged. "I'm a better fighter than spy, and if I'm not out there how can I hold you guys to your word?"

"Fair enough. You must understand, though, that Orochimaru doesn't rule alone," Sasori replied evenly. "Many support his reign for their own gain."

Tenten smiled thinly. "You want lists of who falls into which category? Get me something to write with."

Sasori thought about that before nodding. "That would be useful information, but there's one small matter of procedure first, and I'm sure you'd like to get cleaned up first." Tenten nodded in agreement, eager for a shower after a week in that cell. Sasori motioned, and she followed him and Deidara down a few halls to a small apartment suite, where she had privacy enough to get cleaned up and put on fresh clothes that were actually hers; her lips twisted in amusement as she realized that Sasori had gone through all of her storage scrolls, including the ones with changes of clothes in them.

Clean, in her usual uniform and with her hair back in neat buns, Tenten felt a lot better. When she emerged, Sasori and Deidara were waiting. She followed them, and realized with a start that they were headed back to the vast cavern with the statue. When they arrived, the Leader was still there, but there were a number of other shinobi in Akatsuki robes as well standing or sitting on various parts of the statue, their features hidden in shadow. Several were only ethereal projections of some unknown jutsu.

"You wish to commit yourself to our cause, Tenten of Konohagakure?" Just the sound of the Akatsuki leader's voice made Tenten shudder, or maybe it was the purple-spiraled gaze that was locked on her.

"I do. Orochimaru and the other kages are a blight on the Elemental Nations," she answered.

"Very well. Give her back her hitai-ate," the Leader said. Deidara handed Tenten's Leaf forehead protector to her with one hand and a kunai with the other. She looked at it, then at the assembled nuke-nin and their scored hitai-ate, and understood.

Tenten looked down at the forehead protector. It had been almost exactly six years since she had passed the graduation exam at the academy and worn it for the first time, and it had been one of the proudest days of her life. _I'm sorry, Gai-sensei,_ she thought, knowing the teacher she loved and respected would be horrified by what she was about to do. _When Orochimaru's dead and we're free I hope you'll understand._ Raising the kunai, she plunged it into the metal plate and dragged it horizontally across the Leaf emblem. When she was done a straight line bisected Konohagakure's logo. Taking a deep breath, she tied it around her forehead.

Sasori stepped forward and settled a black cloak over her shoulders. She noted it lacked red clouds as she fastened it around her neck and let it close around her.

The Leader leaned back in his seat. "Sasori's recommendation is enough to gain you invitation into our ranks, but it does not make you a true Akatsuki. Since Sasori recruited you, you answer to him for now, and you are his responsibility to monitor and train. One year from this day you will be evaluated by another of our members. If you survive, you will be one of us in truth and assigned a partner."

Tenten understood the implications clearly. She had a year to learn enough from Sasori and on her own to survive a fight with one of the senior Akatsuki, or die. She bowed slightly. "I will strive not to disappoint."

"Do that," the Leader said with faint amusement. Then the projections of faraway Akatsuki faded and the ones physically present disappeared in blurs or puffs of smoke, leaving her alone with Sasori and Deidara.

Sasori's hand fell on Tenten's shoulder. "Come. We have much to do, both to help your village, and to prepare you for your evaluation."

Tenten nodded. "And here I thought after the jounin exam I was done with 'succeed or die' tests."

Sasori chuckled. "For shinobi, those only end when you're dead. Let's get to work."

* * *

_Two days before the Chuunin Exams_

Tenten lead Amaya, Kaede and Ken as they ran down a narrow, twisting valley surrounded by steep cliffs. They had left the forests of the Land of Fire behind almost a week ago, making their way carefully across a patchwork of small nations as they headed east and north, towards the Land of Lightning and Kumogakure.

All three of her genin had improved noticeably in the time provided before the Chuunin Exam. The exam was only a few days away now, and they were set to arrive shortly before the opening ceremony.

As the valley opened into a wider canyon with a river running through it at the bottom of a sloping incline, Tenten came to a halt, and her genin paused behind her.

"What are we stopping for, sensei? We can keep running," Ken said with a confident smile. It was after noon and they'd been running since dawn. Amaya and Kaede, silently catching their breath, glared at Ken.

"We stop here until our escorts arrive," Tenten told them. "This is the border of the Land of Lightning, so we'll wait for one of Kumogakure's patrols. It wouldn't be wise for us to travel further without identifying ourselves; it might be interpreted as hostile."

They didn't have to wait for long; less than two hours later a trio of Cloud ninja running along the top of the canyon rim to the north spotted them and darted straight down the cliff face to confront them. A woman with dusky skin and hair woven into a multitude of small braids lead the group, a younger man with blond hair in a bowl cut and an older one with red hair going to gray following her. All three wore swords across their backs; a tanto for the woman and katanas for both men. They all came to a stop near where Tenten and her students had settled in the shade of a rock overhang to wait.

"You Leaf ninja must be really lost," the kunoichi with braided hair declared.

"Just taking the road less travelled," Tenten answered respectfully. She rose to her feet, stepped forward and extended a small scroll for them to see. It had the Raikage's seal on it, and each sensei of a foreign team of genin arriving for the Chuunin exams had one. The cloud kunoichi took it and examined the seal before handing it back without comment. "Any particular reason you didn't come in with your Hokage and the rest of your Leaf friends?" she inquired.

"Yes," Tenten answered politely without elaborating.

After a moment of silence the Cloud kunoichi's lips curved up into a faint smile. "Surudoi," she said without turning around. "Guide these four to the village and then return to the outpost. We'll continue our patrol." The kunoichi and the older shinobi with red hair darted back up the canyon wall and quickly disappeared.

The young blond shinobi named Surudoi bowed to Tenten. "At your service; shall we depart?"

It took another day and a half of travel with their Cloud guide to reach Kumogakure, and a lot of the distance travelled was vertical, up into the mountains. Tenten's genin were all skilled enough wall walkers to keep up, which allowed their guide to take a more direct route. On the last half day of travel, once they'd reached Kumogakure's altitude, the journey became harder, and even Tenten and Ken were a bit winded by the time the gates of the Village Hidden in the Clouds came into sight.

"I understand why you insisted we spend time on altitude training, sensei," Amaya gasped as they slowed to a walk, approaching the gates.

Tenten nodded. "Each village was founded in terrain advantageous to its shinobi. Konohagakure is surrounded by forest, Sunagakure by desert, Kiragakure by water, and Iwagakure is underground. Kumogakure's terrain advantage is its altitude. The air's thinner, so the shinobi born here have better lung capacity to compensate. Anyone from outside trying to attack this village would find themselves tiring out far more quickly than its defenders." Surudoi grinned and nodded wordlessly at the conversation.

Tenten and her team were allowed through the gates once the scroll was presented, and their guide departed to return to his border station. Tenten got directions to the staging areas of the Chuunin Exams. When they made their way to the lodgings provided for Konohagakure's ninja, Tenten spotted a head with a distinctive pineapple-top hairstyle loitering outside the entrance.

"Shikamaru," she said with a friendly wave.

"Tenten. Cutting it close, aren't you?" Shikamaru replied.

Tenten shrugged. "We made it with a day to spare; that's more than enough time." Glancing at her students, Tenten gestured to the hotel. "Go find our rooms and get settled in." Amaya nodded, and headed inside followed by her teammates.

"So, four teams from Konohagakure. That should exceed what any of the villages other than our host are fielding," Tenten commented to Shikamaru.

"Three," he corrected her. "My students are only here to observe and learn. I didn't enter them." Shikamaru's brow furrowed. "I'm surprised that you entered your genin, Tenten. I thought you had the patience to wait. They're at a disadvantage here due to their age, and if they don't make it to the final round they won't be able to compete on their home turf next year. They'll have to wait for the exams in Mist in two years."

Tenten stilled, considering her response. More than most of her peers, she needed to avoid Shikamaru's suspicion. He knew her better and was smarter than any ANBU. "Not everything is a calculation, Shikamaru. They're ready," Tenten answered firmly. "They'll surprise you, and whoever else underestimates them."

With that Tenten slipped past him and went inside, hearing a muttered "Troublesome…" behind her. When she got inside, Amaya had already checked in and gotten their room keys. After dropping off their packs, showering and changing, Tenten and her genin left the lodgings to just walk around the public areas of Kumogakure. Tenten had only visited the mountain village a few times, and her genin had never seen it before. They found a nice local restaurant and had dinner, then headed back to the hotel. "You three get some sleep and be ready to head out for the exam location on time. The exam starts at eight sharp, and late contestants will be disqualified."

Once her students were asleep and the night deepened until Kumogakure was quiet and dark, Tenten disregarded her own advice, stepping out onto her room's balcony and waiting for a gap in the Cloud ANBU patrols before dropping down into the alley below. It took her only seconds to shift a nearby manhole cover, climb down the ladder and replace the metal disc above her.

Sighing and making a face at the smell, Tenten climbed down into the tunnel and set off with purpose. Kabuto had given her a map of the section of sewer under the hotel when he had passed on Sasori's orders that she enter her team and attend the exams, so she knew where the Cloud patrols and traps were. Cautiously, Tenten wended her way deeper into Kumogakure's sewers.

Less than half an hour later, she reached her destination, one of hundreds of seemingly featureless tunnels. Glancing around to ensure she was alone, Tenten rapped her knuckles on the brick wall in a specific pattern. A moment later, a section of wall quietly slid in and aside. Tenten slipped inside, and the hidden door grated shut behind her.

Waiting in the hidden room at the end of a short tunnel were two men in black robes adorned with red clouds. "Awfully big mice in these sewers," the larger of the pair rumbled in an amused tone when he saw the bun-headed kunoichi, rising from his seat to tower over Tenten. His strange eyes, green irises surrounded by a red sclera, were his only visible feature; the rest of his face was covered by his hitai-ate, bandanna and a mask over his nose and mouth.

"Bite me, Kakuzu," Tenten shot back.

"Is that an invitation? I know you like it rough," Kakuzu leered, long black tendrils extending from his arm for a moment.

Tenten shuddered and glared at him, feeling the scars on her back itch at the memory. "You enjoyed doing that way too much."

Kakuzu shrugged. "Not every day a pretty young thing like you _asks _me to torture her. Was I supposed to refuse?"

"Come now, Kakuzu. There's no need to tease poor Tenten," the room's other occupant chided gently. "Jashin's grace be upon you, my dear," the shorter, silver haired man said as he rose to his feet, smile lines radiating from the corners of his dark eyes. The warrior priest was the age of Tenten's father, his face weathered but beaming as he regarded her. His head was uncovered, the hilt of his tri-bladed scythe protruded above his shoulder.

Tenten skipped forward to offer a friendly hug to Hidan, "And Jashin's light upon you," she murmured as she embraced the holy man. She was not an adherent of Jashin, Lord of Justice, but standing in the presence of his avatar in the mortal realm, it was impossible not to feel the soothing, otherworldly chakra that filled Hidan's body. The priest was an odd man out among the Akatsuki, the only full member not a shinobi by training. The temples of Jashin and their warrior priests and monks were known throughout the Elemental Nations as sanctuaries and places where the powerless could seek justice, be it from petty bandits or cheating landowners. Discovering during her time among the Akatsuki that Jashin's most holy adherent and wielder of his divine weapon supported their goals had done more than Sasori's cool logic to convince Tenten that she had made the right choice.

"It's good to see you Hidan, but I'm sure I'm not here just because I've missed you since returning to Konohagakure. What do you need me to do?" Tenten asked.

Kakuzu pulled a folder from inside his cloak and handed it to Tenten. "Our mission from the Leader begins when the Chuunin Exams end," Hidan explained, "but yours begins now." Tenten opened the folder. It was a copy of one of Sasori's files on prominent shinobi. This file had a picture of a dusky-skinned Cloud ninja with shaggy white hair long enough to cover his left eye. The man's visible eye held a calm, steely expression. He wore a katana across his back, and the uniform of a jounin along with a special insignia that Tenten didn't recognize. "Darui," Tenten read the name, skimming over what Sasori knew of his abilities, habits, rank… Tenten blinked at that. "The jounin commander of Kumogakure?" Tenten looked up at Hidan. "He's your target?"

Hidan shook his head. "No. He's your target." He smiled at Tenten's surprised expression. "We need you to observe this man, get to know him if you can do so without arousing suspicion. Once the exams are over, you're going to need to put to use the skills you displayed against Sasori in Sunagakure and impersonate him well enough to briefly fool one of his subordinates. We need you to lure that person down here, into the sewers."

Tenten nodded in understanding. To fool someone who knew Darui, she'd have to get close enough to steal some of his chakra to make the henge perfect, as she had done with Gaara. Tenten flipped a few pages deeper into the folder, and then almost dropped it when she reached the second shinobi profile. "A jinchuuriki?" she whispered.

"The Raikage's own personal terror weapon," Kakuzu confirmed grimly. "We're going to take it from them and put that power to a better use." Wordlessly, Tenten memorized the information on Darui before returning the folder to Kakuzu.

With the mission clear, Tenten spent as much time as she could just sitting with the pair, catching up with Hidan on what had happened with the Akatsuki in her absence. All too soon though, Tenten rose to her feet, knowing she'd have to return to her hotel before her absence was noticed.

Bidding Hidan and Kakuzu goodbye, Tenten retraced her steps and carefully emerged from the sewers, darting up the wall back onto the balcony outside her room. A quick glance around at the traps she had set on the door and windows assured her that no one had entered the room in her absence. Heading inside, she took another shower to wash off the stink of the sewers.

Tenten was just about to make an entry in her journal before going to bed when a whisper of sound presaged a pair of Cloud ANBU landing on her balcony. She'd left the door open to let in the cool mountain breeze, and when the pair advanced on the entryway, Tenten palmed a kunai from her pouch. _Did they see me entering or leaving the sewers?_

"It's a bit late," she said calmly to the pair, one wearing a mask with an eagle's face, the other wearing a goat mask. "Can I help you?"

Eagle spoke up. "You're Tenten of Konohagakure?" When she nodded tightly, he continued. "Come with us, please."

_Not good…_ Tenten thought grimly.


	6. Tested

**Chapter 6: Tested**

* * *

_Tenten among the Akatsuki, Week 2_

After leaving the statue chamber, Tenten followed Sasori through the tunnels. The door they arrived at was different from the one he's taken her to get cleaned up and change. The door had a scorpion in a diamond carved into it, and swung open seemingly on its own when Sasori approached. "Come in, please," he said, allowing Tenten and Deidara to precede him inside before following them in. The door closed behind him with a 'clang'.

Looking around, Tenten's eyes widened in surprise; the living quarters she found herself in were surprisingly spacious for being carved out of solid rock. She stood in a large main living area furnished in the style of Sunagakure, with a few woven tapestries on the walls that depicted desert scenes. It looked like the homes of a few Sand ninja Tenten had been invited into. One doorway on the far wall went back into a bedroom, while the one next to it opened onto a workshop that looked to be geared towards producing puppets, from what Tenten could see. A doorway to the left led to a kitchen.

Sasori stepped up behind Tenten as she took in his home. "I may have scored my hitai-ate and left my home for a time, but Sunagakure has never left my heart. I hope to return there one day, when Gaara and the butchers of the Sabaku family are gone," he told her. When Tenten turned to look at her new patron in surprise, she caught a wistful look in his dark eyes for a moment before they focused on her. "Now, let's see what can be done to make you… more than you are now, shall we say?" Moving over to a finely crafted desk of pale wood, Sasori opened a drawer and removed a small slip of paper that had a faintly iridescent sheen to it with the light of the room's lamps played over it. Tenten's breath caught as he extended it to her. "Take it," he said.

"Are you sure?" Tenten asked quietly. She'd seen chakra paper before – Konohagakure produced almost all of the chakra paper used in the Elemental Nations – and she knew what it did, but a single piece cost more than she made in six months even as a jounin, so unlike some of the clan heirs Tenten had gone to the academy with she'd never been able to afford it, and had focused on disciplines like kenjutsu and fuuinjutsu that could be performed without knowing or training one's elemental chakra.

"I'm sure. I'd like to see what you're best capable of learning," Sasori said.

Nodding, Tenten took the small square of paper from him and held it between two fingers. Swallowing, she channeled her chakra through it. She knew that some ninja, especially those without a family history in the shinobi arts, had no elemental affinity, and channeling through the paper simply turned it into an ordinary bit of scrap. Tenten prayed that wouldn't happen to Sasori's expensive gift.

Her worry was dispelled in an instant when the piece of paper crumbled to dust seconds after her chakra hit it. _My natural affinity is_ _earth type chakra_, Tenten thought. She was glad she hadn't tried to buy chakra paper on her own; Konohagakure had few shinobi skilled in earth ninjutsu, and she couldn't afford instruction from any of them. Most Doton masters were in Iwagakure.

Sasori smiled at the result. "Good. I thought that would be your affinity. Metalworking is in your blood, and your comfort with tools and weapons of steel is part of your bond to the earth."

"You can teach me to use earth type techniques?" Tenten asked.

"I cannot. If you had an affinity for wind there is much I could show you, but earth chakra is not one of my areas of expertise." Noting Tenten's crestfallen expression, he shook his head. "However, you are standing in the presence of the Akatsuki's foremost expert on Doton techniques, from whom you can learn a great deal, I think."

"Oh, no fucking way," Deidara growled, stepping up from behind Tenten to glare at Sasori. "Sasori, you think I have time to teach this bun-headed piece of fluff how to mold chakra? I've got better things to do, un."

Anger boiled up inside her at the casual insult. _Insulted my hair? Check. Insulted my gender? Check. Insulted my skill as a ninja? Check. Folks, we have a winner._ Tenten had spent half of her life facing derision like that from men who dismissed her as soon as they saw her. Oh, most of them didn't really see themselves as sexist, but they never really respected kunoichi as equals. They might be grateful for the skill of a female medical ninja, but as a competent fighter? Generally a kunoichi only got respect from men if she was significantly older or higher in rank.

Tenten had spent her career being looked down on, and she'd also spent the last four years earning respect from men with the same chauvinistic attitude as Deidara. She wasn't going to start a physical confrontation with him; in an enclosed space his explosives would be impossible to dodge effectively. But she couldn't let the insult lie either; he'd never respect her if she took that from him. Tenten's reply was every bit as caustic as his statement had been. "I molded chakra well enough to make you look like a fool, blondie."

Deidara whirled around to face her, his visible eye wide with anger, a tick forming on his forehead. "What did you say to me, Leaf girl?"

"I got the better of you in Sunagakure, so talking down to me just makes you look like even more of a joke than your hairstyle." _Two can play that game, pretty boy,_ Tenten thought with satisfaction as his face started turning red. _No guy just rolls out of bed with hair like that; you probably use more product than Ino._

He sputtered, and his hand dipped into the pouch of clay at his waist. "Not in my apartment, Deidara," Sasori warned, and the blond nuke-nin hesitated.

"That's all you've got isn't it?" Tenten observed with derision as she glanced at his pouch of clay, a plan forming in her mind. "You're a one-trick pony like every other shinobi out there with a kekkei genkai."

"Don't insult my art, Leaf girl. It's not healthy, un." There was warning in Deidara's tone, his face deadly intent. "You're cocky for someone who spent the last week in a cell."

Tenten snorted. "Sasori-sensei caught me, not you," she retorted, "and he can kill me three ways just that I know of: puppets, poison and fuuinjutsu." That got a faint nod from the Sand nuke-nin. "You? I bet you couldn't take a genin without those explosives of yours. They're all you've got, aren't they?"

A kunai appeared in Deidara's hand in a flash. "I don't need my Shunshin no Geijutsu _[Art of a Single Moment]_ to deal with an upstart like you," he sneered. His throw was as fast as his draw, sending the kunai flying at Tenten.

Deidara's speed was impressive, but Tenten had trained for years to react to attacks that moved faster than her eyes could track; keeping up with Neji and Rock Lee had made that a necessity. Her hand flew up and caught the kunai by the handle inches from her chest; unimpeded it would have pierced a lung. Tenten examined it curiously, then shrugged and slipped it into her pouch.

"Prove it blondie; put your time where your mouth is," Tenten said. "Spar with me without your clay toys. If I win, teach me some Doton techniques." Tenten saw an amused look on Sasori's face for a moment before it disappeared behind his usual calm expression.

Deidara may have been a short-tempered misogynist, but he wasn't stupid; he recognized the trap he'd walked into. If he refused the challenge after talking down to her he'd look weak in front of Sasori, whose good opinion seemed to matter to him. "All right, Leaf girl," he said with a malevolent smile. "We'll fight blade to blade and I'll cut you up well enough, un." She nodded, but he wasn't done. "Since we're naming forfeits, I'll teach you if you win. But _when_ I win, and after they're done patching you up, you'll apologize for your attitude on your back, un." His eyes traced up and down her body with a leer. "You really don't have anything else to offer, I think."

Tenten pushed down her anger at his insults and crude demand. He'd reversed her trap on her. If she objected, she'd validate his opinion of her, but if he turned out to have more going for him than just the clay, she could end up in an uncomfortable position. _In more ways than one,_ she thought grimly. Sasori's neutral expression seemed to say, 'You're a big girl and you started this, you solve it.'

"You're a pig," Tenten stated flatly.

"And you don't know your place, un," Deidara shot back, grinning as he sensed an advantage in her discomfort. "I sense some hesitation, Leaf girl. Are you all talk?"

Tenten's eyes narrowed and her hand blurred as she threw a kunai at Deidara in return. He stopped it just short of his groin, the teeth of the mouth in his hand latched onto the hilt before he grabbed it and twisted it around a finger with a crooked grin. "Was that a 'yes'?"

"Let's go," Tenten growled.

"Not in my apartment," Sasori repeated. "Let's go find a sparring room." Shaking his head, Sasori lead them out of his apartment and deeper into the complex, to a large room with weapon racks and sparring equipment on the walls and a large clear space for sparring.

As they set up in the ring, Tenten assessed the situation. _He can't use his clay, but that means that whatever traditional ninjutsu he has is something I haven't seen him use before. Sasori says he's a master of earth techniques, so I have to be on the lookout for those. _Without her main summoning scroll, lost in the desert outside Sunagakure she couldn't perform the Sogu: Tensasai _[Heavenly Chain of Destruction]_, but she had some of the smaller scrolls used in the Soshoryu _[Twin Rising Dragons]._

Tenten started out with a kunai in her right hand, and Deidara followed suit with a mocking smile. "Begin," Sasori said without fanfare once they were ready.

Tenten threw her kunai at Deidara, following it with a brace of shuriken. "Doton: Doryuso [Falling Earth Spears]!" Deidara crouched and drove his kunai into the ground. A half-ring of stone spikes shot from the ground, deflecting her weapons. Tenten felt his chakra moving through the ground towards her, and leapt into the air as more stone spikes erupted from the ground she had been standing on.

Flipping in midair she directed chakra to her feet, standing upside down on the ceiling and unsealing a barrage of spiked metal balls, shaping the chakra that accompanied their release from the scroll to send them flying in multiple directions; some directly at him, others bouncing off of walls to hurtle at him from the sides and back. The spheres approached him from all directions before exploding in tandem as the timed explosive tags inside went off, raining deadly shrapnel on Deidara from all directions.

When the smoke faded, a dome of rock studded with jagged pieces of metal from the spike bombs stood where Deidara had been. _Fine, you want to fight like a Rock ninja? I've fought Rock ninja._ Tenten tossed out a number of kunai with explosive tags on them attached to rings on her fingers, and they embedded themselves in the walls, floor and ceiling around the room. Closing her eyes, Tenten focused on the physical and chakra vibrations in the wires.

When Tenten felt Deidara's chakra signature moving through the stone, she waited until it was close to one of her kunai then tugged on the wire, detonating it. She smiled when his chakra presence darted off in a different direction. She tossed more tagged and wired kunai at the area and waited. Moving one's body through dirt, sand or rock was a common skill of Doton masters, but it had a drawback; there wasn't any air for them to breathe while performing the techniques, so they had to 'surface' from under the earth eventually.

"Hiding from a girl, blondie? Whatever will the boy's club think?" Tenten taunted. Her sense of Deidara's chakra faded as he moved deeper into the stone, and Tenten frowned. She'd been holding her breath since he went under, trying to gauge how long he had, and it wasn't much time left. She waited, concentrating on catching any hint of where he was going to emerge from the rock.

Tenten was focusing on the wires, so it took her a moment to notice a chakra spike directly 'under' her feet in the ceiling she was standing on. _The one place I don't have a kunai, and where channeling my own chakra to grip the ceiling interferes with my senses!_ Even as Tenten cut off the chakra flow to the soles of her feet, arms of stone flowed from the ceiling and grabbed her ankles, reversing the momentum of her fall and slamming her back up into the stone ceiling, hard. As her body dropped again in the stone grip, Tenten felt Deidara himself drop out of the ceiling behind her. She turned her head in time to see a foot heading for her, and then his kick connected with the side of her head with vicious force.

Head ringing, Tenten curled into a ball before he could hit her again. She quickly drew a pair of kunai, charged them with her own chakra and pounded them into the stone arms holding her legs. The stone limbs crumbled and broke, freeing Tenten to drop to the floor. Tenten tugged on some of her wired kunai near where Deidara was about to land, forcing him to dodge the blasts instead of attacking her again as she dropped to the floor and took a moment to shake her head, trying to clear the dizziness.

"I'll give you this Leaf girl, you're tougher than you look," Deidara commented.

Tenten unsealed a kusarigama from a scroll, gripping the left sickle in her hand while whirling the right in a blurring circle. "If getting kicked in the head was enough to put me down I wouldn't have survived my genin team, blondie. You'll have to do better than that."

Wordlessly, Deidara leapt at her, katana flashing as he executed a midair slice that forced Tenten to retreat before hurling the right sickle of the kusarigama at him. He dodged it, but Tenten yanked hard on the chain, reversing its momentum. Deidara saw the chain's change of direction and shifted to the side, but the tip of the sickle blade still sliced through his robe and nicked his arm. He responded with a series of blurring sword strikes, forcing Tenten to take both sickles in hand to deflect his blows, returning a few ripostes of her own to keep him on his toes.

They went back and forth for a while before Tenten was able to loop the chain of the kusarigama around the blade of his sword, force it out of position and close past the range of his blade. Tenten grinned, then head-butted him, forcing him to lower his hitai-ate to take the blow from hers. He got his hand down to block the knee she aimed at his groin, but was unprepared when she immediately reversed direction and stomped her foot down on his, hard. She felt something in his foot break under her heel, and his pained grunt made her day. She got in an elbow to his ribs as well before he lowered his shoulder and slammed into her chest, forcing her backward. She tightened the chain of the kusarigama around his katana's blade and tore it from his hands as she stepped back, off balance.

Before Tenten could get back on firm footing, Deidara lunged forward and grabbed her wrists, tackling her down to the ground and smashing her wrists onto the floor hard enough that she lost her grip on her kusarigama. Then he was on top of her, and he drew a kunai from his sleeve, the blade plunging down towards her neck. Tenten caught his wrist in a forearm block to arrest the blade's forward progress. He had the advantage of gravity and a male's upper body strength, and he pressed down with both hands until she could feel the tip nick her skin. "I win, Leaf girl."

"Look down," Tenten said quietly. He did so and blinked at the kunai in her off hand, the tip hovering between two ribs over his heart. "In this scenario, we both lose," Tenten told him.

Deidara shook his head. "Just you, Leaf girl." He tossed aside the kunai at her neck and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tightly to him, heedless of the kunai sinking into his chest. Tenten watched with shock as the color faded from his features, turning the same brown as the stone around them.

_Crap, an earth clone!_ Tenten tried to wriggle free of the clone but it half-melted around her, pinning her arms and melding with the floor. Then she felt a katana blade pressed against her neck, and looked up to see the real Deidara standing over her. "I don't think you can get out of this, but if you can feel free to surprise me, un," he observed clinically.

Tenten just grinned at him. Deidara blinked and then staggered back a step as his vision doubled and started to blur. When his blade lifted from her neck, Tenten managed to perform a substitution jutsu with one of the punching bags leaning against the wall on the far side of the room. "You've got some stamina if that isn't affecting you until now," Tenten observed. Deidara squinted at her before looking at his hand in confusion, his eyes struggling to focus. Tenten imagined it was starting to tingle.

"How did you-?" he started to say before biting off the question, and she could see he was disoriented. The poison was slow at first and worked best when exertion sent it through the body faster, but once it started taking effect temporary blindness came rapidly.

"Contact poison on the kunai I threw at you in Sasori's apartment," Tenten replied casually. "Developing immunity to that was not fun, but as you can see – or not see – its effects are pretty useful. Want the antidote? All it takes is three little words: 'You win, Tenten,'" she said mockingly.

Deidara gave up on his deteriorating vision and closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Don't need to see you to beat you, Leaf girl. Doton: Doryuha!" he yelled, slapping his palm down on the ground. From the corner of her eye Tenten saw Sasori shake his head before disappearing in a puff of smoke. A rolling wave of earth exploded outward in a ring from Deidara, cresting as high as the ceiling and bearing down on her in an inescapable wave; Tenten was cut off from the room's only door.

"Great," she muttered, grabbing one of her emergency scrolls from her pouch, hurriedly unsealing the defensive tool that was inside as the roaring wall of stone bore down on her. Darkness surrounded Tenten as the metal dome of the Iron Protection Wall popped into existence around her, shaking as Deidara's rock wave hit and washed over it. Crouching under the dome, Tenten winced as the metal groaned and shook. "Got to learn how to do that," Tenten muttered. "After I kick his ass," she amended. Safe but blind inside the metal dome, Tenten listened and tried to sense his chakra, but in the wake of the jutsu his chakra was everywhere, and the rumbling made it hard to hear. She could tell by the groaning of the metal that there was a lot of rock on top of it, and returning it to its scroll would probably crush her.

Without warning the ground shifted. Kunai in hand, Tenten tried to locate the threat before realizing that the stone under her feet had softened, and she was slowly sinking into it. Swearing, Tenten adhered her palms to the roof of the dome and tried to pull her feet free, but hands closed around her submerged ankles and pulled hard, dragging her knee-deep in the liquid rock. Tenten faintly sensed Deidara's chakra presence behind her and threw an elbow back that smashed into his nose, but despite his pained grunt he grabbed her arms and pulled her off balance, dragging her down into the ground. Without leverage she couldn't stop him from dragging her arms underground as well. An instant later the rock returned to its natural state, and Tenten groaned in dismay as she found she was trapped lying on her back with her hands and feet trapped in solid stone with no give to it whatsoever.

Deidara surfaced again a moment later, though she couldn't see him in the darkness. "Now that I know you're not getting out of, but just to be sure…" Tenten felt a blade pressed against her neck again. "Sasori tells me you may know how to open Inner Gates. I wouldn't advise trying it. Your dome can't take much more punishment, and without it the rock above will crush you."

Listening to the metal above her head creak and groan, Tenten was inclined to agree. "Not sleeping with you," she countered stubbornly.

"No, of course not," Deidara replied calmly, and Tenten was struck by the change in his tone. "If you'd turned out to be all talk, you'd be doing my laundry or something like that, but I don't coerce women into my bed, as Sasori well knows."

Tenten blinked. "It was a test, then?"

"Yes. You passed, by the way. It's been a while since someone managed to poison me. It won't be a waste of my time to teach you." He paused. "I assume you carry the antidote to whatever you gave me?"

"Under my sash on the right side, it's the vial with a rounded cork. Just drink it," she told him. His nimble fingers found the vial and took it. A moment later his hands were on her arms and legs, drawing them out of the rock. Once freed, Tenten summoned a glowing ball of chakra in her hand.

Deidara's face was a bit bloodied from the elbow to the face, and his eyes were unfocused as the antidote did its work, but he made some hand signs and pressed his palms to the ground, pouring chakra into the rock. Tenten could hear stone moving outside the dome. After a few minutes he looked up, his eyes focusing again. "You can get rid of the dome. The rock is gone." Tenten returned the dome to its scroll, and her jaw dropped as she looked around. Other than some weapon racks lying on the floor, the room looked as it had when they entered; the remnants of the earth jutsus he'd used were gone.

Deidara smiled at the look on her face. "Tearing up the earth is easy. Restoring it to the way it was found? That's an art. If you're able, you'll learn to do both." Tenten looked at that smile on Deidara's face and felt something flutter in her stomach. It was the first time she'd seen his smile reach his eyes, and it surprised her that he hid it under his casual air of malice.

Deidara took Tenten's hand and helped her to her feet. Sasori rejoined them, looking around with interest. "I left when you decided to rearrange the whole room. How did it go?"

"She has some skill," Deidara admitted with a playful grin. "I'll see what I can do."

Once Deidara let his good humor through it was infectious, and Tenten's expression brightened in turn. A chance to learn her elemental chakra from a master? More than she'd dreamed possible.

* * *

_Day One of the Chuunin Exams_

Amaya, Kaede and Ken got up early and prepared themselves for the Chuunin Exams. They stopped by Tenten's room before leaving, but when their knocks went unanswered, they decided to depart without her. They made their way across town easily enough, and reached the large structure where the exam was to take place. They saw a number of other genin teams on the way; when they entered the open square in front of the testing building, Amaya heard a familiar voice. "What are you babies doing here? Come to watch me win the exam?"

Suppressing a vicious grin, Amaya turned to face Konohamaru. Moegi and Udon were trailing behind him as usual. "Sorry, 'Honored Grandson'," Amaya replied, watching him grind his teeth at the hated honorific, "but we're here to compete."

Konohamaru snorted in disbelief. "That's a good one, Uchiha brat, except your sensei didn't enter you." With an expression of amused superiority, Konohamaru glanced at Ken, who was bristling at the older genin's tone. "Sorry Ken but only one of us can be Hokage, and it's going to be me."

Amaya and Ken were both about to retort when Kaede spoke up. "Look around you, Sarutobi." A number of foreign genin teams were glancing at the confrontation, their eyes focusing on Konohamaru. "You see all those genin from other villages? They've all been training to face the grandson of the Third Hokage in this exam, because you couldn't keep your mouth shut about how important you are." Kaede crossed her arms. "Our sensei did enter us, and we did what ninja are supposed to do; we employed misdirection." Kaede was looking right at Udon with those dark shades, and the brown-haired boy swallowed hard. "No one will see us coming. You three, on the other hand? You're screwed, Konohamaru. Have fun." Moegi and Udon were looking a little uncertain, registering all the foreign genin looking at them, while Konohamaru was sputtering with wordless rage.

"Shall we go?" Kaede asked her teammates, strolling towards the testing hall. Ken and Amaya both laughed and followed along, leaving Konohamaru behind before he could come up with a retort.

Inside the testing hall's main atrium where a half-ring of banners depicting village logos and numbers; some had adult Cloud ninja standing under them, others didn't. As they watched, a team from Sunagakure approached one of that village's banners, and was led away by the Cloud ninja who had been standing under it.

The banner with Konohagakure's logo and the kanji for '4' had an attendant, who watched Amaya, Kaede and Ken as they approached. "You are Konohagakure's Team Four?" the Cloud ninja asked, a bulky man with dark skin and a shaven head.

"We are," Amaya affirmed.

"Follow me to your exam site, then," he instructed them before turning and leading them down a hall. The three genin followed their guide through twisting hallways and down a few levels. When they turned the next corner there was a pair of Cloud ninja in ANBU masks blocking the hallway. Their guide stopped short in surprise. "Is there a problem?" He inquired of his colleagues.

"If those genin behind you are the students of Tenten of Konohagakure, then yes, there is," the ANBU with the goat's mask answered.

"Tenten is our sensei," Amaya answered. "What's going on?"

Goat looked down at the Uchiha girl. "You three need to come with us," Goat said flatly, turning to lead them away.

Amaya exchanged a glance with Kaede. "We're not going anywhere until you tell us what's going on," Amaya said.

Goat stopped, looked over his shoulder. "Your sensei committed a very serious crime against Kumogakure. If you'd like to see her before her sentence is carried out, come with us. It's unlikely you'll get another chance to see her."

Dread congealed like a lump of ice in Amaya's gut. "That can't be true-" she began.

"The truth of the statement is irrelevant. Regardless of what Tenten-sensei is accused of she is part of the Hokage's entourage and cannot be tried without his knowledge."

"Your Hokage is aware of your teacher's crimes and has washed his hands of her," Eagle interrupted. "If you want to see her, come with us."

Ken stepped up behind Kaede and Amaya. "These accusations against our sensei cannot be true, but we should still visit her," he said quietly, tightly controlled anger in his voice. As Amaya's shock faded she could see the wisdom of that; they could find out for themselves what was going on better if they went to see their sensei together.

Goat and Eagle kept walking, and Amaya, Kaede and Ken followed them, worried and wary. Their exam guide followed, looking worried. They were lead deeper into the building and Amaya had her sharingan active and spinning now, mapping their route if they needed to retrace it with a rescue party. In a dimly lit underground hallway the Cloud ANBU stopped, opened a door and went inside.

When the genin followed them in, they found themselves in one half of an interrogation room. A large one-way window filled the far wall, and through it they could see the other half of the interrogation room. With dismay, Amaya saw their sensei on the other side of the glass. She was tied to the chair at wrist and ankle with chakra rope, and her face was bruised, one eyes swollen almost shut. Her white shirt was stained with dried blood in a few places, evidence of minor wounds. A pair of Cloud ANBU was in the room with her, looming over Tenten and talking with her; they couldn't hear the words through the thick window.

"What is the meaning of this? What have you done to our sensei?" Amaya demanded as Ken and Kaede stared in horror.

"Settle down. Most of her wounds are from her fighting when we arrested her," Goat said with disdain. He took a scroll from his belt and dropped it on the table; Amaya could see it was a jutsu scroll, sealed with the emblem of Kumogakure. "Your sensei had that in her possession when she was arrested. It was stolen from our ninja library."

As the genin watched, one of the ANBU with Tenten rounded the table and punched her in the face hard enough to tip over the chair she was tied to; Tenten's head hit the floor hard and she lay there until they picked the chair back up. Amaya glared at Goat. "I said most of her wounds," he said with a shrug. "We're trying to convince her to tell us who hired her. It would go easier on her if she did, but she's refused to talk." One of the ANBU hit Tenten again, in the gut this time.

Amaya's mind was spinning. Could it be true? Tenten would never steal for herself; it went against her nindo, but what if she had been given a mission to steal the scroll? It would make sense to do it during the Chuunin Exams when Kumogakure was full of foreign shinobi. A chill went through Amaya as she realized that the most likely scenario was that the Hokage had given her a mission to steal the scroll, either for himself or a third party client. Tenten would never admit that, or course, even if they threatened to execute her.

"Why are we here?" Kaede asked, and Amaya's head came up. She'd been so worried about their sensei that she hadn't even asked herself that yet. "I do not believe you have invited us here out of sympathy for us or our sensei."

Eagle chuckled. "You're one of those ice-cold Aburame, aren't you girl? Yeah, you're here because we thought you might want to cut a deal to save your sensei. Otherwise, she'll be executed at dusk."

"What is it you want?" Kaede asked neutrally.

"If you three drop out of the Chuunin Exam, we'll let your sensei live. She'll be flogged for the theft and then you can take her home." Goat said with a shrug. "Personally, I'd let her die before I'd lose my chance at chuunin, but I hear you Leaf ninja are more attached to your teachers, so Eagle here said we should offer you a chance to save her life."

Then Amaya understood, and disgust welled up in her. "Eliminate foreign ninja from the exam before they can embarrass your village's genin, is that it?"

Goat looked innocent. "I may have a nephew in the exams this year, but that's beside the point as far as you're concerned. Forfeit the exam and save your sensei, or go take the exam and you can attend her execution tonight."

Kaede approached the exam guide, who was standing by the door to the room. "You don't care that they're interfering with the exam? I thought you were a proctor."

The bald ninja shrugged. "I didn't hear anything," he said in an amused tone.

"I see," Kaede said with disappointment. Because Amaya had her sharingan active she saw a few of Kaede's kikai bugs slip under the door, but she couldn't fathom what her teammate hoped to achieve.

"Is that a no?" Goat asked. "Because if so you three have a test to take and we have an execution to plan." He stepped over to the window and rapped on the glass. The ANBU in the other room dragged Tenten to her feet, and when they said something to her, fear crossed her formerly stoic expression, and it tore at Amaya's heart.

Tenten had protected them ever since they were assigned to her. _It's our turn to protect her, even if it does mean two more years as genin,_ Amaya thought, and saw the same decision on Ken's face; he nodded to her. "Wait!" Amaya said, and Goat looked at her curiously. "We-" _We'll forfeit,_ she had been about to say, but Kaede cut her off.

"We will not forfeit," the Aburame girl stated crisply. "Go ahead and kill her. In fact, I'll help."

Amaya and Ken turned to stare at Kaede in absolute shock, unable to believe she would condemn their teacher. Then Amaya heard Goat say "What the hell?" Turning back to the interrogation room, Amaya saw Tenten's body shaking as she struggled against the ropes, and her sharingan caught kikai bugs crawling on their sensei.

"Kaede, what are you doing!" Ken yelled with disbelief on his face as more kikai bugs slipped under the door of the interrogation room and began attacking Tenten, who was helpless to defend herself.

"We will not forfeit because that is not our sensei," Kaede answered calmly.

Then the exam proctor spoke up. "Call off your bugs, kid. Konohagakure's team four passes the exam's first round." Goat rapped on the glass again, and in the other room 'Tenten' vanished in a cloud of smoke. Replaced by a Cloud ninja covered in bug bites, shrugging out of the ropes and looking irritated as the kikai bugs withdrew.

Amaya saw Ken's jaw drop, and didn't feel much less surprise herself. "How did you know it was a setup?" she asked her Aburame teammate.

Kaede shrugged. "I didn't at first; when I realized that sensei's tracking bug wasn't nearby the possibility occurred to me. After that it was a matter of getting more bugs into that room to verify that the person we were seeing was or was not our sensei." Kaede paused. "Did you believe I would truly condemn Tenten-sensei to death?"

Amaya thought about it. "I don't think either of us believed you would do that. It's why we were too shocked to stop you, fortunately for us." Ken nodded in agreement.

"I'm glad you figured it out," Amaya said honestly. "We would have fallen for it without you."

* * *

Tenten had only been leaning against the wall under the Konohagakure Team Four banner and waiting for her genin for a few minutes when she heard familiar shouts, and the trio emerged from a hallway and dashed across the room to her. "How did you do?" Tenten asked them, keeping her voice and expression smooth.

She'd been worrying about her students ever since Goat and Eagle had shown up at her hotel room to sequester her until the Interrogation Room test was complete. She'd been escorted to a room on the other side of town under watchful ANBU eyes to prevent her from interfering while her genin were lead to believe they were about to be executed and then offered a chance to save her by forfeiting.

Tenten had known Amaya and Kaede were smart enough to deal with most of the mind-games oriented tests that cropped up in the First Round of the Chuunin Exams, but the Interrogation Room played to the greatest weakness of genin like hers; attachment to their sensei. No village had done the Interrogation Room in five years since the disaster in Kirigakure, so Tenten hadn't expected it to be attempted again in Kumogakure.

"We passed," Kaede answered quickly.

Tenten exhaled in relief, sweeping up all three of them into a fierce hug. "Congratulations!"

"Sensei, not in front of the other genin!" Ken complained. Laughing, Tenten let go.

"We passed because Kaede figured it out," Amaya added with brutal honesty. "Ken and I almost fell for it."

Looking around to make sure there was no one nearby, Tenten crouched to be at eye level with her students. "I'm glad you passed," she said, "and I'm glad you came close to failing," Ken and Amaya looked thunderstruck, while Kaede nodded thoughtfully.

"The Interrogation Room test can be passed two ways," Tenten explained. "One, the genin team figures out the test. Two, the genin team abandons their sensei. In the eyes of the villages, those outcomes signify that the genin are either perceptive enough or independent enough to be chuunin. Personally, I think the second one's kind of cold." Amaya and Ken's faces brightened, and Tenten tousled Ken's red hair.

"So the genin team fails the test if they give in to the coercion?" Kaede asked.

"Yes, or if they pick a fight with the participating ANBU," Tenten said. Then she gave them a humorless smile. "The Interrogation Room test actually has a third pass condition; fight the five jounin in the room and _win_. No one had ever met that condition before the exam in Kirigakure five years ago."

All three genin exchanged wide-eyed looks. That Chuunin Exam was famous for having included two jinchuuriki genin; the final rounds were still talked about. "What happened?" Ken asked.

"Namikaze Naruto and Sabaku no Gaara killed the jounin testing them, losing control of their bijuu in the process, and then proceeded to reduce most of the island the exam was being held on to rubble. They actually had to move the second and third rounds."

Tenten tilted her head with a smile. "But enough of the history lesson; you passed the first round, and it looks like the proctor has your reward for you." The three genin turned to see the bald exam guide walk up with a box of pale wood with a fuuinjutsu seal holding it closed in his hands. He presented it to Kaede. "Your team must report to the exam pavilion outside of the west gate of the village at 8:00 tomorrow morning to participate in the second round of the exam, and you must have this box with you; don't lose it or try to open it." With that he departed.


	7. Primary Target

**Chapter 7: Primary Target**

* * *

_Tenten among the Akatsuki, Month Three_

The capital of the Land of Tea, situated on a nexus of trade routes that stretched out through the Elemental Nations, was a city of wealth and commerce; the Land of Tea lacked the military strength of its larger and more populous neighbors, but money was a power all its own, and that power practically oozed from the capital. Its capital was a city that never slept, and even at night the streets were lit and thronging with activity into the wee hours of morning.

All the nighttime hustle and bustle and lights made the jobs of shinobi somewhat harder, Tenten reflected as she hid in the shadows cast by the elaborate ornamental rooftop she was currently occupying. Glancing around a fierce-looking dragon carved from wood and painted gold and red, Tenten spied on another inconvenience in the form of an armored figure standing on the next roof over.

Since the merchant princes and nobles of the Land of Tea preferred not to have to sleep in fear of ninja assassins hired by their equally wealthy rivals, the city's council had taken steps to make the city unattractive to shinobi. The brightly lit streets and rooftops at night were a small inconvenience. The garrison full of veteran samurai that policed the Land of Tea's capital was a far more dangerous impediment. The Land of Tea was closely allied with the Land of Iron, home of the samurai, and some of their wealth went towards a permanent force of samurai who upheld the law in the capital.

Ninja weren't barred from entering the capital (many, like the Akamichi or Hyuuga, were nobles or merchants themselves), but those who did so legally had to identify themselves upon entry and were placed under constant scrutiny while inside the city walls. Each village had elite shinobi who could evade detection by samurai, but the city's laws carried heavy penalties for unauthorized ninja activity, and none of the kages relished being barred from the Land of Tea's banks and trade routes if one of their elite was caught or recognized, so the Hidden Villages as a rule didn't take contracts in the Land of Tea's capital.

This meant, of course, that someone who needed an enemy assassinated or spied upon in the capital of the Land of Tea had to contract with nuke-nin for the work. Most nuke-nin weren't good enough to evade detection by the samurai police, but the Akatsuki weren't most nuke-nin, which is why Tenten found herself moving cautiously from rooftop to rooftop with a certain blond, who quietly groused at the rate of their progress.

"This is ridiculous. Since when do samurai patrol rooftops?" Deidara complained quietly.

"Probably since they figured out that ninja like rooftops," Tenten replied automatically before peering around the corner again. "Okay, he moved on, let's go." She suited action to words, darting out of cover and sprinting on silent feet to the edge of the roof, leaping to the next. From the corner of her eye Tenten could see Deidara keeping pace with her easily, his black and red cloak fluttering in the wind, his bangs pulled back from the left side of his face to reveal the sight scope he wore over his left eye. The intricate lenses of the device moved almost constantly as he scanned their surroundings. Tenten knew from trying it on that in addition to letting him see long distances, the device could also be set to detect movement and heat and amplify low light conditions. Currently it was helping him spot samurai before samurai spotted them.

Tenten wore her cloudless black cloak and a skintight black cloth mask like Kakashi's over her nose and the lower half of her face, her hair was in a single tight braid instead of her signature buns, and she'd left her forehead protector behind. She didn't plan to be seen by anyone who would remain among the living tonight, but things didn't always go according to plan, and she couldn't afford to be recognized or described accurately. Everyone she knew back in Konohagakure probably thought she was dead by now, and Tenten intended for it to stay that way. She ignored the familiar pang of guilt at the thought of her family, teammates and students mourning her death.

Forced to dodge two more samurai patrols, Tenten and Deidara reached their destination half an hour later. Hiding on another rooftop, they watched the immense palace across the street. It was surrounded by two high walls with guards patrolling the tops, large tracts of open space between the outer and inner walls and between the inner wall and walls of the palace. Each floor of the palace was ringed by walkways patrolled by more guards.

"We could have been done with this mission four days ago, un," Deidara reminded her.

Tenten shook her head at her impatient sensei. "We also could have been skewered by the samurai manning those _giant ballistae_ on the walls, and we would have been spotted before got within a kilometer of the city. Locating one nobleman in a huge palace takes time, which is difficult when the whole city is up in arms."

Deidara shrugged. "After a few explosions, people stop looking up. Usually they're more focused on putting out the fires."

"After a few explosions, the samurai show up in force and the guy we're here for goes to ground."

"After a few _big_ explosions, goodbye palace and goodbye target."

When she first met Deidara, Tenten wouldn't have detected the playful note in his voice, but now she could pick up when he wasn't being serious, and she punched him in the shoulder with a growl. "No, you are not dropping a C3 on the palace. The target and his bodyguards probably have to die, his servants do _not_. Stop being a baby and keep an eye out for our ticket inside."

Tenten would have been disappointed if any of Deidara's suggestions had been serious, but banter was how he dealt with missions, and despite herself she'd come to enjoy his outlandish comments.

Nothing about Deidara had been when Tenten had expected when she first met him. The person he had pretended to be when testing her was a cold, caustic mask that Deidara showed to the world, but when he put that mask away he could be funny, light-hearted and thoughtful. Tenten had never met a man before who could make her laugh the way Deidara did and she was honored that, as they got to know each other, he let the layers of deception fall away and the true Deidara emerge. Tenten had been surprised by how much humor and humanity remained in a man who had been fighting and killing at a far earlier age than Tenten had.

Tenten recalled the planning session with Sasori and Deidara after receiving the mission.

_"Simple," Deidara said when they were gathered in Sasori's apartment after examining the objective and a map of the Land of Tea's capital. "We'll fly in high altitude under the cover of darkness and we'll drop on the palace roof. It will bypass the samurai army in the city, and we can handle whatever security he's got inside, un."_

_ Tenten shook her head. "That won't work." She glanced expectantly at Sasori, but he only looked puzzled._

_ "The plan is sound," the puppet-nin responded._

_ Tenten blinked. "Wow. I know something you don't? You're slipping, Sasori-sensei." She said it lightly, but at his frown she elaborated. "Well, that's not fair. I have inside information in this case." Leaning over the map, she circled six towers around the city walls of the capital. "There is a Hyuuga with active Byakugan in these towers at all times, scanning out and up for threats. Even with cloud cover, we can't fly high enough to evade their sight."_

_ "How do you know this?" Sasori asked, taking a new look at the map._

_ "My boyfriend back in Konohagakure was a Hyuuga, and he told me about it when he was sent to set it up. It's one of the Hyuuga clan's most valuable contracts, so he was very thorough, and he will have taken into account flying opponents."_

_ Sasori nodded. "I see. So what alternative do you propose?"_

_ Tenten suspected her teacher had half a dozen backup plans, but that wasn't the point. He wanted to know what she would do. "First, we forget about trying to go over the wall; it's pointless. Instead, we just walk through the front gate with a few thousand other people."_

_ "That might work for you, but I've got a somewhat recognizable face," Deidara objected. "If these Hyuuga can spot a bird two kilometers up, they'll spot a henge, un."_

_ Tenten nodded. "They would, but there are methods of disguise that don't involve chakra. When I'm done with you, Sasori won't recognize you. We're both good enough at suppressing our chakra to get past a handful of overworked sensors who have to scan thousands of people an hour."_

_ Deidara considered that. "What about my clay? Its chakra will stand out to a sensor, and I can't suppress that, nor does the capital have the right deposits for me to make more inside the walls, un." Tenten didn't answer; she just took one of her smaller sealing scrolls from her pouch and put it on the table. "Right," Deidara acknowledged._

_ "Once you're in, then what?" Sasori asked._

_ "Monitor the palace, find the best dressed servants, then waylay them, take their places and enter the palace. I'll hunt down the target and Deidara can be ready to fly us out once he's dead."_

_ "The palace has its own sensors," Sasori reminded her._

_ "Yes, but they're not Hyuuga. I can teach Deidara how to mimic the chakra of his henge's target, and they won't sense either of us until it's too late."_

Entering the city had been easy her way. With their gear hidden in a few innocuous scrolls in Tenten's pack, they had simply passed as a pair of plain country folk on a trip to the big city without a drop of chakra or a single weapon between them. They'd taken ordinary lodgings and done ordinary things. If they appeared to be spending a lot of time in their room while actually scouting out their target's palace and leaving clones behind, it fit since they were posing as newlyweds on honeymoon1 – although the matronly innkeeper's private advice on what to do with her 'handsome husband' had turned Tenten's face bright red.

But their surveillance had paid off; they'd located a pair of servants who looked useful, and now lay in wait for them on a rooftop near the target's palace. Tenten's victim, a maid in the target's service, would get her access to the inner chambers of the palace, while Deidara's disguise was a young guardsman whose appearance would allow the explosives specialist to mine the palace's barracks and other vital areas with hidden bombs. Tenten had reservations about blowing up the guardhouse, but neutralizing security was fair game for an assassination, and she certainly didn't want those soldiers crawling up her back.

"Here they come," Deidara said quietly from the edge of the rooftop, looking down into the alley below. Moving beside him, Tenten followed his gaze and saw two familiar people walking down the dim alley towards the palace. The woman was a few years older than Tenten, and wore an embroidered, well-cut kimono that was the uniform of the target's personal servants. The man beside her was roughly the same age. The simple armor he wore and the sword at his side identified him as a palace guard.

Tenten nodded to Deidara, and then they both dropped into the alley behind the pair. Tenten's hand chopped into the side of the woman's neck, knocking her out before she was even aware of their presence, and Deidara's kick slammed into the side of the man's head a moment later, silencing him. Each grabbed their target and leapt back up onto the rooftop a moment later.

Deidara and Tenten stripped the pair of their outer garments and bound and gagged them securely, hiding them in a well-concealed alcove on the roof. Tenten drew a pair of blue senbon and jabbed one into each neck, the drug on it ensuring the pair would sleep through the night. Tenten applied a pair of paper seals to the unconscious captives and then Tenten placed her hand on the woman, while Deidara touched the man.

A puff of smoke later, the guard and the servant girl were examining each other on the rooftop for a moment before nodding and dropping down into the alleyway, heading for the servant's gate to the palace with the confident manner of people who belonged where they were. The guards waved them through the gate without comment.

Once inside the inner wall they split up, Deidara headed for the barracks, Tenten continuing into the palace. In the home of a more modest size this wouldn't work; Tenten didn't know enough about who she was impersonating. But this palace was large enough that most people knew each other by sight but not by name, and servants were both numerous and invisible. Tenten stuck to less trafficked halls to minimize the chances of running into someone who actually knew the person she was disguised as.

Sasori's spies had bribed some of the palace's actual servants to provide maps of the buildings innards, for which Tenten was profoundly grateful; she would have been lost without the directions. With them, it didn't take her long to make her way up several floors and to the back of the palace, where its master resided.

The chambers of Lord Iyashu, the wealthy nobleman the Akatsuki had been hired to assassinate, lay ahead of Tenten. She had been surprised when Sasori had told her that she and Deidara would be taking the job. Not because she objected to assassination; she'd killed her share of targets as a ninja of Konohagakure, but because she hadn't realized that the Akatsuki did such work.

"_Our clients are a very small and selective list, but we do take on paid S-Rank missions from time to time. Insurrection isn't free, and maintaining our war chest is just as important as spying on the Hidden Villages," _Sasori had told her.

Looking like she had every right in the world to be there, Tenten made her way down the hall to the lord's chambers. The eyes of the guards followed her, and she could feel others in the shadows, ninja with solid chakra presences, but no one challenged her. The guards just saw another maid, and the ninja were confident in the knowledge that their senses could pierce an ordinary henge. With her own chakra suppressed and hidden behind the stolen chakra of the maid whose appearance she had stolen, Tenten was allowed to pass. Carefully, she opened the door of Lord Iyashu's chambers and slipped inside.

Most of the rooms were unlit; Tenten ghosted through the dark and headed down a passage in which there was light coming from one of the rooms. Stepping inside, Tenten found herself in a palatial office. The walls to either side were lined with books, scrolls and mementos. A long, low desk made of a single slab of marble dominated the center of the room. Sitting behind it was a balding man with gray hair and a lined face. He wore rich robes of burgundy silk.

Tenten's step faltered as she saw what he was doing. His work on the desk had been set aside as he cradled a baby in his arms, a tender look on a face obviously more accustomed to harsh expressions. That face settled into stony neutrality when he noted Tenten's presence and looked up. "Ah, perfect timing Yuka. I was just about to call for Mayumi's nurse. Take her, will you?"

Tenten nodded wordlessly, feeling a lump in her throat as she stepped forward, taking the infant in her arms. The baby girl squirmed and fussed for a moment. Tenten rocked the child in her arms for a moment to calm her down. Spotting a crib in a corner of the office, she walked over slowly, waiting until the baby calmed down before setting her down in the bassinet. Mechanically, Tenten's mind was going back over her briefing on the mission with Sasori and Deidara. The adorable infant was Iyashu Mayumi, the lord's youngest daughter. Some ninja would use the child against the father; Lord Iyashu was past his prime, but the man had been a feared samurai in his day.

Tenten couldn't bring herself to do that. It went against her nindo, and it was bad enough she was about to orphan the girl this night. Forming the hand signs as subtly as she could, Tenten projected a silence jutsu over the baby's crib. It was a tiny movement, but from the corner of her eye Tenten saw the old samurai's head come up, eyes hard. She saw a glitter of metal as something fell from his sleeve into his hand, and then she was leaning back, catching a compact throwing knife in midair.

"Assassin," Lord Iyashu spat as he rose to his feet, hand on the hilt of the sword at his side. His eyes were as hard as the iron of his native land, but Tenten could see worry in his gaze at the presence of a hired killer so close to his infant daughter.

Noting Iyashu edging to the side, Tenten threw his knife back in his direction, high and to his right where it sliced through a bell pull of red silk rope he had been sidling towards. Then she drew the tanto sheathed at the small of her back. Inclining his head in respect, Iyashu drew his katana with a steely hiss. The man could summon his guards with a shout, but as Tenten had guessed he was reluctant to do so, both because she seemed willing to fight him honorably, and because of his concern for his daughter being caught in a general melee.

Aware that she was working against the clock to kill Iyashu before one of his servants or bodyguards became aware of the threat to his life, Tenten made the first move, springing forward and landing on the marble surface of his desk and hurling a kunai that he dodged before making a sweeping strike at her legs that she jumped over.

Twirling in the air, Tenten made a pair of hand slgns, calling "Doton: Ishinoken!" _[Stone Fists]_ Then she extended her hands, landing on the desktop on her palms, upside down for a moment. Iyashu's katana flashed in a reverse strike aimed at severing her arms, but before the blow landed the marble desktop around her hands liquefied and flowed up her arms to the shoulders, coating them in liquid rock. The chakra-infused stone was resilient enough that Iyashu's katana blade broke on impact.

_Hell, that did it,_ Tenten reflected as she heard shouts coming down the hall. Either the chakra of her ninjutsu or the sound of shattering steel had alerted someone. _Time to finish this. _Tenten bunched her arms and threw herself up in the air again, righting herself and landing behind Iyashu as he whirled and barely drew his wakazashi in time to stop her tanto inches from his neck. Undeterred, Tenten got in closer, delivering a stunning blow from a rock-coated elbow to the old samurai's face. As he staggered back she grabbed the blade of his wakazashi in her bare but marble covered hand, and sliced his throat open with her tanto.

Blood arced into the air as Tenten leapt back from the arterial spray and Iyashu collapsed, dead before he hit the floor. Not wasting a moment, Tenten threw an explosive kunai out the open doors to the room's wide balcony, darting after it. A moment later the activated tag timed out and the projectile exploded in a flash of light outside, illuminating that section of the palace grounds. A heartbeat later the palace shook with a much larger explosion, the guard barracks going up in a fiery cloud.

In addition to signaling the elimination of the bulk of the palace's defenders, the sudden radiance saved Tenten's life as she caught the glint of light off of steel from the corner of her eye. Tenten dove forward and rolled, whirling to see two black-clad shinobi drop from the next level up and another four dart out onto the balcony from the room she'd just escaped. All six were garbed in black from head to toe, their only visible skin their hands and eyes. The arrivals from above had bladed metal claws gripped in their right hands, while the four from inside had drawn swords in two-handed grips.

"Damn you, kunoichi!" one of them grated as they closed in a half-circle around her. "This job was good money and you've ruined it!"

Tenten shrugged lightly as she sheathed her tanto and drew a pair of sai. "Should have kept a closer eye on your golden goose in that case, because he's cooked now," she taunted, sparing a quick glance behind her. The balcony was several stories up, and it jutted from the side of the palace overlooking a steep cliff, with nothing nearby to jump to. _Hurry your blond ass up, Deidara,_ Tenten thought distantly as the vengeful bodyguards attacked. The claw wielders hung back and peppered her with shuriken as the swordsmen closed in with flat, angry eyes, determined to take her life.

Tenten responded by diving into the middle of them, forcing the ranged attackers to risk hitting their compatriots. In close with four swords, she probably would have been killed in seconds without her earth jutsu, but with it she could block sword blows with her arms as well as deflecting blades with her sai. Getting inside their guards, punching, kicking and twisting blades in her sai to weaken or break them, she managed to hold off and bloody her opponents while taking only a few minor wounds herself. She put the tip of a sai through an unwary attacker's eye and improve the odds against her. It was going well until one of the claw wielders joined the melee, tackling her from the side.

Tenten drove her sai deep into his back, a fatal wound, but his weight and momentum still drove her to the floor. On the defensive, she saw the last claw wielder throw a grenade at her. She couldn't avoid it, but neither could the other three 1ninja attacking her. _Oh, no way- _she thought, throwing up her stone-wrapped arms to shield her head and torso as best she could. The thing exploded, but instead of being peppered with shrapnel and fire, Tenten found herself surrounded by a glittering orange powder that coated her and filled the air.

_Not good,_ Tenten concluded, forcing her breath to freeze, unwilling to risk inhaling any of the unknown powder through her cloth mask. Squinting so it wouldn't get in her eyes, she took advantage of the reduced visibility inside the cloud of dust to roll away from the swordsmen and out of the cloud, darting to the edge of the balcony. Within seconds she was starting to feel lightheaded, her limbs having the sensation of almost floating. Aware of the powder coating her face, Tenten cursed under her breath. _Figures it works on skin contact too._

To her dismay, the swordsmen emerged from the cloud seemingly none the worse for the wear. _They're immune to it? Lovely. _Tenten wasn't sure what the stuff was supposed to do, but it wasn't paralyzing her, so she raised her guard, counting the seconds. _C'mon Deidara NOW would be a good time!_ He should have made a big bird to get them out of the city and been on his way by now.

Oddly, the enemy shinobi didn't seem anxious to close with her again. "Good work," the one who had initially addressed her said to the one that had thrown the grenade. Then he looked at Tenten, and to her surprise pushed back his cowl, revealing the visage of a scarred, gray-haired ninja in his fifties, whose lined face cracked into an unpleasant grin. Tenten's vision swam for a moment, and she staggered as her balance wavered. _What the hell… can't… think straight…?_ "No quick death for you, kunoichi. Though you'll wish you were dead before my nephews are done with you. Drop your weapons."

Tenten was startled by the sound of steel hitting wood, and looked down to see a pair of bloodied sai lying on the balcony floor at her feet. "Weapons?" Her head felt like it was wrapped in thick layers of wool, and she took a few steps back. Looking up from the discarded sai to the men, who were sheathing their weapons, looking relaxed, she tilted her head. "Are those mine? Who… who are you?" _Who am I? _For a moment Tenten thought her voice sounded like a stranger's, and then in the next moment she wasn't sure why that thought has occurred to her. Lost in introspection, she looked around the balcony slowly as the four men closed in on her, the one without a mask smirking. Noticing the body of the other two, she asked, "Was there a fight?" Something like a sense of alarm tried to make itself known in her brain, but dissipated without taking root.

"Don't worry yourself about it. Show me your hands." the gray-haired man asked as he drew a coil of rope from his belt.

Tenten was almost reduced to tears. Taking charge like that, he was so _nice!_ She obediently held up her arms, watching in fascination as bits of stone clinging to her skin flaked off and fell to the floor. Then her curiosity was diverted to the older shinobi's dexterous fingers binding her wrists.

All of Tenten's senses were magnified, so she could see each strand of fiber twisted into the ropes, and the weave of the cloth in the uniforms of the men around her. Her ears picked up the faint sound of wings flapping. Looking up and behind her new friends, Tenten's wide, slightly glazed eyes spotted a handful of beautiful white avians flying down to the balcony from above. "Birds…" she cooed.

One of the men near her laughed, but his amusement was drowned out by much louder wing beats. "What the-" one of them yelled before Tenten was hit by a gust of air from behind. Something wrapped firmly around her waist, and she saw a massive, carefully sculpted pair of alabaster bird talons gripping her. Another wing beat, and she was going up, airborne. Rising rapidly, Tenten squealed with delight. Then the smaller birds she had spotted hit the ninja left behind below.

"Katsu!" a new male voice called above her, and the entire balcony erupted in a dazzling series of explosions. Absorbed by all the interesting things she was seeing this high in the air as the giant bird carrying her flew away from the lovely palace below, enticed by the rush of air on her skin, Tenten didn't know how much time had passed, moments or minutes, before a strong pair of arms grabbed her shoulders and dragged her up on top of the bird.

Those same hands shook Tenten's shoulders as she found herself face to face with a handsome man with blonde hair and a black robe with red clouds. His one visible eye was filled with irritation and worry. "Tenten, what the hell happened? You scared me half to death, un!" he chided her. Then he glanced down, grimaced, and guided the bird in a sharp turn as a pair of ballista bolts flew by.

Tenten stared at them, counting the fletching in their massive tails until she couldn't see them by the moon light anymore. Then she looked back at Deidara, trying to remember what his question had been for a moment before giving up. "Good bird," she said, patting the clay she was sitting on. The words came out slightly slurred.

The blond looked at her sharply. "Did they hit you in the head?" He summoned a glowing ball of chakra to his palm, looking more closely at her. Most of the orange powder had been blown away, but when he got close enough to look into her glazed eyes he got a faint whiff of it on her skin, and recoiled. "Damn, those Mikuzuchi Clan bastards dosed you with dreamdust, un," shaking his head before looking at her with disbelief. "You're higher than a kite, aren't you?"

"Yup!" Tenten chirped brightly, leaning over to look down at the darkened landscape the big white bird was flying over. "Much higher than a kite!" she added. Her balance wavered for a moment, but Deidara absently hauled her in by her sash before she could fall off.

"Great," Deidara muttered, fishing in his robe and pulling out a small book that he started leafing through. "Just… count something, okay?" Nodding placidly, Tenten sat next to Deidara and started counting each silky, flaxen hair in the long bangs that covered his left eye.

"Let's see here," Deidara muttered, finding the page he was looking for and reading aloud. "Dreamdust: Symptoms include memory loss, extreme suggestibility, disorientation, as well as mild euphoria and heightened senses. Repeated exposure can result in immunity to the effects. Antidote... none? 'Remove affected persons from danger and supervise closely.' Effects wear off in two to four hours depending on dosage and metabolism of recipient." Sighing, he closed the book and put it away.

Tenten's count of Deidara's hair kept getting interrupted when the wind would toss the fine blond strands around. After the third time it happened, she absently reached out to hold them still. Then she gasped at the smooth, silky feel of his hair. "What are you doing?" he asked before blinking as he found her face inches from his.

Then she rubbed her cheek against his flowing locks. "So soft," she murmured. He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her back, studying her she looked back, eyes full of innocent curiosity.

"Figures you'd turn out to be happy and touchy-feely when you're stoned," he observed with resignation. "Think you could sit still until I find a safe place to land?" Tenten only had to think about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Great," he sighed. "Just… don't distract me, un," he said finally, positioning her behind him on the bird's back.

After looking around for a moment, Tenten settled for playing with his ponytail for a little while before starting to braid it. The ropes around her wrists made it a little harder, and it occurred to her to use one of the innumerable bladed weapons on her person to cut herself free, but the thought didn't last long enough to be translated into action. Tenten managed to finish the braid shortly before the giant bird dipped in the sky and descended into the dark trees below.

Disengaging himself from her grasp and dropping to the ground, Deidara set about making camp, pausing to cut her hands free of the ropes around her wrists. "It would be nice to have some warm food, but I don't think we can risk a fire. We'll wait until that stuff wears off, and then head out."

"What stuff?" Tenten asked brightly.

"Right. Let's just… take a nap," Deidara said, laying out their bedrolls next to each other under by moonlight. "Come sit down," he told her, and Tenten obediently curled up on the bedroll. "Try to relax, un," he said, and she did try, but with her senses so amped up, rest proved elusive. In the end she just sat there, studying Deidara as he lounged next to her watching her warily. "What's so fascinating?" he inquired after ten minutes of silence.

Tenten pondered that question for a while, before answering absently, "You." Having studied his hair to her contentment, she'd moved on to examining the sturdy fabric of his Akatsuki robes, her eyes keen enough to pick out the fine, chakra-laced wires woven into the cloth, giving it both resilience and resistance to jutsus when used as a shield. Then her examination moved on to his face. His visible blue eye was fascinating, and his skin was flawless, even to her enhanced sight.

Leaning closer, her hand absently came up to touch him, stopped short when he gently caught her wrist in his hand. The sensation of his callused fingers on her skin was interesting enough that she paused to study this new development. "What are you doing now?" he inquired with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"I'm not sure," she said slowly, glancing back at his face, distracted by the movement of his lips when he spoke. A new impulse in her head translated itself into action, avoiding all the usual filters that the narcotic had shut down, and this time she was close enough that Deidara only had time for a moment of wide-eyed shock as she leaned in and her lips met his. His lips were smooth and firm and he tasted faintly of mint.

The kiss lasted for only a moment before Deidara recovered and put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her back. "Tenten, no," he said firmly.

"You don't wanna?" she asked with a pout before flopping back on her bedroll with a dejected expression.

"I don't-?" he managed in a half-strangled voice before shaking his head in bemusement. "No, I certainly 'wanna'."

"Then why not?" Tenten inquired, her voice fainter.

Deidara leaned back to look at the stars. "It wouldn't be fair to you with that dust messing up your head. If you want to pick up where we left off tomorrow, I'm all for it."

"Besides," Deidara offered after a reflective pause. "Sasori, Hidan and Konan would be lining up to skin me if I took advantage of you while you were drugged."

When he didn't hear anything from her Deidara glanced at Tenten, noting her closed eyes and slow breath. "You didn't hear any of that, did you?" he asked wryly. "Ah well." Lying back on his bedroll, he watched the stars, listening for signs of pursuit.

* * *

Hours later in the gray before dawn, Tenten woke with a start, looking around in alarm until she spotted Deidara lounging beside her. Then the grinding pain of a headache made itself known and she groaned quietly, rubbing her temples gingerly with her fingers. "What happened?" she inquired, memories a muddle.

"Mission accomplished; at least, I hope so. You gave the signal for 'target eliminated'," Deidara replied, sitting up.

Lord Iyashu's blood fountaining from his neck jumped into her consciousness and Tenten nodded jerkily. "Yeah, he's dead. His bodyguards chased me and the last thing I remember is some grenade exploding in my face. After that, it's a blank." Tenten's eyes widened in dismay. "Did anyone see me?"

Deidara shook his head. "The bodyguards are dead, so no. Plenty of people saw my bird take off, and the samurai took some potshots, but I think everyone who saw you is no longer among the living."

"Nothing else happened?"

For some reason Deidara looked slightly nervous. "Nope, nothing; just flying here and waiting for the stuff in that grenade to wear off. You were out of it for a little while."

Tenten winced. "I hope I didn't do anything embarrassing," she said.

Deidara coughed and then got to his feet. "Hey look at the time we should probably get going." Turning away from her, he busied himself forming a giant bird to carry them back to base.

Tenten frowned, suspicious of his evasive behavior. "Seriously, what happened?"

"Nothing!"

She was about to dig further to find out what he was hiding when her view of him from behind made her blink. "Deidara, since when do you braid your hair?"

* * *

_Kumogakure, The Chuunin Exams_

The morning after the end of the first round, Amaya, Kaede, Ken and Tenten made their way to the spot outside the gates of Kumogakure where the second phase of the Chuunin Exam was to begin. It was cold, and Amaya wore long pants, sturdy boots and an overcoat over her Uchiha tunic, while Ken had swapped his usual skintight outfit for a thicker and darker green bodysuit under the orange leg warmers. Kaede, who dressed warmly year round, wore thick pants and boots like Amaya's in addition to her omnipresent hooded jacket.

There was no audience for this gathering, just a group of exam proctors waiting as the genin teams that had passed the first round assembled. All three Konohagakure teams had passed the initial test, so when they arrived Ebisu and Genma's genin were already there.

Ebisu and Genma both gave Tenten sour looks, which she responded to with innocent smiles. The older jounin, whose teams hadn't even attempted to make a secret of their presence at the exams, had been shamed in front of the Hokage and Anko by the ability of a rookie jounin half their age to keep her team's entry a secret from everyone. Konohamaru's eyes simmered with rage, but Amaya and Kaede did an excellent job of pretending the older genin wasn't even there, and Ken was playing along admirably once he saw how much being ignored pissed his rival off.

Soft growls from Genma's team heralded the presence of the Inuzuka triplets. They looked much like Kiba had as a genin, Tenten decided, although they wore their hair longer and in brown dreadlocks that fell over their shoulders. The trio's names were Haruko, Hikaru and Hiroko, although most of the time even their parents couldn't tell them apart.

Tenten had warned her genin about the Inuzukas. "They're older than you, more experienced, and if you let them get close their clan techniques can kill you." Tenten hadn't been joking about the killing, either. Rumors that she had confirmed with Genma indicated that the triplets went for the kill with an unnerving eagerness. Granted their clan's techniques were not suited for soft capture like the Aburame, Nara or Yamanaka, but their bloodlust was extreme. "If you face any of them in a battle where they can get away with killing you, assume they'll try," had been Tenten's advice to her students.

Sealed wooden box in hand, Amaya approached the exam proctor pavilion, where a Kumogakure seal master opened the box and handed Amaya back three items; a yellow stone plaque with a thundercloud engraved on it, a folded map, and a tag that had the kanji for "12" on it. "Find the proctor with that number on his back, and don't lose the plaque or the map; they're important," the white-haired old woman who had removed the seal instructed Amaya, who nodded and slipped the plaque and map into a pocket inside her coat before anyone outside the pavilion could see it. Tenten nodded in approval at the precaution.

Tenten's genin found the exam proctor with "12" on his back, who like the rest was gathered around a stage. When Konohamaru's team approached the stage and met the proctor with a "2", Tenten spotted Konohamaru examining a plaque the same size as Amaya's, but carved from blue stone and with a lightning bolt on it. A moment later Ebisu chided Konohamaru and he put it away, but Tenten glanced at Amaya and knew her sharp-eyed student had noticed. All information was valuable.

Once all the other genin teams had arrived and found their proctors, a familiar face climbed up onto the stage. Tenten recognized Darui, jounin commander of Kumogakure, as he faced the audience. There were thirteen genin teams left after the first round: three from Konohagakure, two from Iwagakure, one from Sunagakure, three from Kirigakure, and four from Kumogakure.

"Congratulations on reaching the Second Round of the Chuunin Exams," Darui said addressing the assembled teams. His voice was monotone, and he had the body language of someone who didn't really want to be there. "Jounin instructors will now depart and return to the village." Tenten nodded. It made sense to keep the teachers in the dark about the exam rules; it reduced the temptation to cheat. Tenten bid her students goodbye, then returned to Kumogakure with the other jounin sensei.

Once the jounin were all gone, Darui addressed the genin. "The Second Round will serve to winnow down the numbers of participants for the Final Round. No more than half of you will make it through this round."

Turning, Darui pointed behind him, where hilly forest cut through with rivers gave way to a mountain range in the distance. "The location of the Final Round is in those mountains. Normally it's a three day trip. Once the instructions for the round have been explained, your proctor will take you to one of the starting places on the edge of the forest, and you will have ten days to reach the testing site."

Reaching into his tunic, Darui turned to a large board that formed the back of the stage, and nodded to a proctor, who tugged a cloth sheet off of it, revealing a large map. "This is a map of the second round testing area. Each team has a map like this. There are actually three different maps that a team could have. One has the cleared trails through the forest and mountains marked on it. Another has the locations of several shelters in the testing area stocked with food, ninja supplies and warm beds. The third map has the exact location of the entrance to the area where the Final Round will be held." Darui paused to let that sink in.

"How does that eliminate half the teams? It would make more sense to share information," Ken observed quietly.

"He's not done explaining," Amaya answered in a whisper.

Turning to a table behind him, Darui picked up two stone plaques, one the yellow tablet Amaya had, the other the blue stone Konohamaru was showing off. "Finally, these are the thunder," the yellow one, "and lighting," the blue one, "seals. To gain entry into the final round of the exams a team must possess both seals, intact and undamaged. Each team has one of these seals; to enter the final round, you've got to take the plaque you don't have from another team. Only full teams will be admitted to the final round. Incapacitation or death of one or more team members disqualifies the team."

"That's how they eliminate half the teams," Amaya said.

"It's clever, really," Kaede reflected. "Sharing map data increases the likelihood of reaching the final round, but every team that wants to reach the final round has to take out at least one other team to get the seals they need, so you can't trust anyone very far."

With the instructions over, the proctors split up, leading their assigned teams down the valley to the edge of the forest. Amaya, Kaede and Ken quickly lost sight of the other teams. Once they were out of sight, Amaya pulled out their map and examined it as Ken and Kaede looked over her shoulder. It looked like the one Darui had demonstrated, but theirs had a dozen different supply caches marked on it. "Damn," Amaya sighed. "I was hoping we'd get the one with trails or testing location on it."

Ken shook his head. "For us, this is probably the best map," he said, and both girls looked at him in surprise. Their male teammate knew that they were better at thinking on their feet than he was, so he deferred to their judgment in most situations; it was rare for him to contradict either of them. Seeing their gazes he ducked his head slightly, mumbling, "Are either of you carrying ten days' worth of food and water?"

Kaede and Amaya exchanged a glance before shaking their heads. "Can't we just forage?"

"If we were in the Land of Fire, sure," Ken replied calmly. "But we're on the other side of the Elemental Nations. I don't know what plants and animals are safe to eat here. Do you?" While the girls mulled that over, Ken pointed down the gulley they were descending, and up. "Food isn't the only problem. See those clouds?" Gazing at the horizon, Amaya and Kaede could see dark, towering clouds that were gathered above the mountains. "In Konohagakure I'd call that a nasty thunderstorm about a day away. But this high up in the mountains, that's probably a really nasty blizzard ready to pound the forest we're walking into with snow and wind." Chastened, Amaya and Kaede were reminded that in spite of their shinobi survival training they were both city girls, while Ken had grown up on a farm outside the village walls.

Their proctor guide, a dark-skinned man with his hitai-ate wrapped as a bandana around his head, glanced over his shoulder. "Listen to your friend there," he advised Amaya and Kaede. "The weather in this region is as deadly as any ninja you'll face." Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a metal tube with a wooden stock. "The last piece of instruction for this round is this: if you wish to forfeit for any reason, fire this flare into the air. ANBU teams are stationed throughout the testing area, and they will come to retrieve you. If another team fires their flare, you are prohibited from taking any action against them outside of self-defense. Doing so will result in disqualification. Understood?" When all three nodded, the proctor handed Ken the flare gun, and he stowed it in his pack.

When they reached the bottom of the gully, the proctor checked the time. "Good, it's almost noon. Once you hear the gong, you are free to begin." That said, he moved away to give them privacy while keeping an eye on them.

While they waited, Kaede spoke up. "At least three other teams will have the same map we do; they are the ones we will be most likely to encounter. We cannot consider the shelters safe."

Amaya nodded, pulling out the map again and studying it. "We're the youngest team here, but we're also one of the fastest. It's a pretty good bet no one with a supply map like ours can match our speed, so here's what we're going to do: we're going to head straight for this supply cache here," she said, pointing to one about a half-day's run away, "take what we need and move on through the night. In the forest we can move quickly, so we should be able to reach this one," she pointed to another shelter further in, "a little after midnight." Amaya glanced at Ken. "Do you think we can do that before the storm breaks?"

Ken mulled over the distances and nodded. "Yes, if we hurry and don't have to fight."

Amaya nodded. "Then that's what we'll do."

Kaede looked over the map as well. "Hopefully the second shelter is a defensible position. We will be at a disadvantage during the storm. I cannot use the kikai bugs during an ice storm, so my ability to provide early warning of approaching opponents will be lost."

The gong sounded, echoing over the forest, and Amaya folded up the map, stowing it away. "Let's move." The three genin blurred as they ran into the forest, taking to the treetops in the fashion of Leaf ninja, chakra in the soles of their feet gripping branches and accelerating them towards their destination.

* * *

With her charges off on their way, it was time for Tenten to get started on her own mission. Hanging back at the gate, she waited for Darui to re-enter the village, and then spent the rest of the day and two days after shadowing him discreetly. He spent a lot of time in the Raikage's offices, as expected of a jounin commander. He had a home nearby in the administrative area, and while he frequently went out for the evening or entertained in his home, he was hardly ever alone, surrounded by a posse of other shinobi.

In her apartment at the end of the second full day of observation, Tenten wrote in her journal. _This assignment is going to be challenging. He's not married and he doesn't seem to be dating, but he flirts enough with other women that I doubt he's gay. After two and a half days, I don't see an obvious way to approach him. If he were some random chuunin I could just put on something revealing and walk past him in a bar, but he's smarter than that, from what I can see. He'd be instantly suspicious of a foreign kunoichi coming on to him. Somehow I have to get him to come to me, and that means getting creative._

Pausing in her writing, Tenten glanced at the flier that had been delivered to her room that morning. While other villages pretty much left their foreign ninja guests to their own devices, Kumogakure had a long history of arranging friendly contests and tests of skill for the visiting jounin to take part in while their students took the Chuunin Exam. She hadn't intended to waste time participating, until she saw Darui and several of his friends signing up for the kenjutsu tournament. It was a competition dominated by Cloud and Mist shinobi, the two villages that placed the most emphasis on swordsmanship, and Tenten knew none of the other Leaf jounin would take part in that competition. But if Darui was going to be there, it was a chance to catch his attention in a forum where he wouldn't be on guard as much as a ninja bar or on the streets. So Tenten had signed up herself.

_We'll see where this goes. At worst, I get to improve my blade work a bit_, Tenten wrote before closing and sealing the journal and heading to bed.


	8. Timetables

**Chapter 8: Timetables**

* * *

_Tenten among the Akatsuki, Month Four_

Tenten flashed through a trio of hand signs and calling out "Doton: Choyakuiwa!" _[Leaping Rocks]_ Then she stomped her right foot onto the stone floor of the training room. Meters away, four orbs of solid stone shot from the floor and shot straight up. Each ball pierced through three bales of hay hanging lengthwise from wires and emerged above them with enough force to impact the ceiling with a loud 'crack', spider web fractures in the rock evident where they had hit.

Behind Tenten her audience clapped a few times, and she turned with a triumphant smile that matched Deidara's. "Excellent, Tenten, very good," he congratulated her.

"It was loud, at least," said Sasori from the doorway of the training room under the Akatsuki base, having just arrived. "I assume everything is going well?" The Sand nuke-nin was leaning in the doorway, a look of interest on his face as he took in the shredded hay bales and the dents in the ceiling.

"Very well," Deidara replied, addressing Sasori and Tenten. "In fact, I'd say Tenten has learned what she needs to from me." Tenten blinked in surprise, and Sasori raised an eyebrow. "I haven't taught her all the earth ninjutsu I know; that would take years. But she has a solid repertoire now, and she's as skilled with it as any Rock jounin at this point. Further advancement will come from studying ninjutsu scrolls or working on skills of her own. What you just heard was Tenten's first original Doton technique; she created it herself over the last month, and I wouldn't want to be the shinobi who takes one of those to the groin or chin." He pointed at the fist-sized rocks she had summoned to fly vertically from the floor.

"I'm impressed," Sasori admitted. "Tenten, your progress in fuuinjutsu has been noteworthy as well given how short a time you've been with us. I wonder if you'll need the whole year to become a full Akatsuki."

Tenten flushed at the praise, bowing to both of them. "If I've learned a lot, it's because I've had amazing teachers. As to the trial, I'll think about moving it up when my record against you two is a bit better," she finished wryly.

Sasori still managed to beat her in less than three minutes more than half the time they sparred; Deidara hadn't in a few weeks, but he was holding back, and she couldn't fault his reasoning. "If Sasori tags you when he's not expecting to, the worst you'll get is a flesh would or a dose of a poison he carries the antidote for, but if you don't dodge a clay bomb in time we'll be cleaning up what's left of you with a mop," he'd said earnestly when she confronted him over it. Regardless, until she could last longer against Sasori, she wasn't in a hurry to step into the ring with a full Akatsuki who was actually trying to kill her.

Sasori nodded in acknowledgement. "When the two of you are done here I'd like it if you could join me in my apartment for lunch; we have something to discuss." With that, the red haired puppet master departed. Tenten used earth chakra to smooth the holes she'd made in the floor and ceiling practicing her jutsu, while Deidara cut down the hay targets and stacked them in the corner for the next person who wanted to practice.

As he tossed the last bale onto the stack, Deidara caught a whiff of the floral soap Tenten bathed with when she wasn't in the field, and turned in surprise to find himself face to face with her as she gave him a searching look. "We should go see what Sasori wants, un?"

"In a moment; first we need to talk," she replied.

Quiet alarm bells went off in Deidara's head; in his experience, a woman saying 'we need to talk' rarely ended well. Running their last few conversations through his head, he didn't spot any obvious verbal grenades, but that didn't mean they weren't there. "Is this about what I said to Sasori?" Deidara guessed. "I meant what I said, Tenten; you've made amazing progress."

She gave him a soft smile and shook her head. "No, it's not about that." Her expression became thoughtful. "It's a funny thing about dreamdust. The memories do come back eventually."

Deidara winced, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly with one hand. "Oh. About that-"

"I wanted to thank you," she interrupted him.

"Thank me for what?" he asked, surprised. Most women he'd known in Iwagakure would have been mad at him just for letting the kiss happen.

"For not…" sighing, she looked down at the floor. "For not taking advantage when I… kissed you; most of them men I've known would have."

He placed his hands lightly on the sides of her shoulders, and she looked up, "Hey," he said softly. "That's not something you need to thank me for. Without maligning your old village too much, that says more about the men you grew up around than it does about me, un." Seeing the doubt linger in her eyes, he pressed on. "Besides, I've been on the other side of that equation."

Tenten blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I assume your village's jounin exam included sessions on resisting interrogation?" When she nodded, he continued. "Iwagakure does that too, and since the villages we were most likely to fight were Sand and Leaf, it's heavy on filling you full of drugs and debilitating poisons to get used to being under their influence. I was fifteen when I went in for that test. The assistant of the ANBU interrogator who was conducting the test was a kunoichi a few years older than me who'd been chasing after me since we were in the academy. Once they had me on three different drugs and I was having trouble remembering my own name, she convinced her boss to let her try something… different to get me to give up the code phrase I was supposed to be keeping secret for the test."

Tenten winced, guessing where this was going. "You don't have to tell me this, Deidara."

He shrugged. "I'm just saying I've been out of my skull and at the mercy of someone who didn't care if I was capable of consenting or not." He concluded calmly. "I wouldn't do that to you, un."

Tenten gave him a brilliant smile. "Thank you." Then she stepped closer, and Deidara's back hit the wall. "I remember everything you said that night, too. No dreamdust in my system now." Her fingers rose to rest on his cheeks, and her face drew closer to his, hesitantly. He removed that hesitation, his arms sliding around her waist as he dipped his head and their lips met, questing at first, then fierce.

When the kiss ended, Deidara looked her in the eye. "Are you sure? What about your guy back in Konohagakure?"

Tenten had felt guilty thinking of Neji when she realized she was falling for Deidara, but she shook her head slightly. "Honestly? I doubt I'll ever see him again unless it's across a battlefield. Even if I did go back, distance has given me some perspective. Neji is a great guy, the opposite of all the chauvinists and opportunists that make up the bulk of Konohagakure's shinobi. But what I felt for him was a mix of youthful infatuation and the lure of a safe harbor. We were genin together, and I was attracted to him for a long time, but I've come to realize it wasn't love, and in any case, our backgrounds were too different; he never would have been permitted to marry me, and we both knew it."

Deidara nodded in understanding, and he kissed her again. He had the same faint taste of mint that she remembered, and wrapped in his arms, she felt safe and warm. When their lips parted again, he smiled. "So you're saying you love me?"

Tenten's breath caught in her throat. "I've only known you for a few months, but I think so, yes. I'd like to find out for sure, if you feel the same."

He nodded. "I think I do, and that sounds like an acceptable… exploration to me."

They kissed once more, and Deidara felt her nimble fingers leave his face and start working on the catch to his Akatsuki robe. A moment later the heavy fabric slid free from his shoulders and puddled around his feet on the floor. "What about lunch, un?" he inquired teasingly, noting that her cheeks were a bit flushed and feeling an undeniable stirring in his own body.

"Sasori-sensei can wait," Tenten breathed, slipping a hand between the folds of his tunic to run her hand over the muscles of his chest.

"Fair enough," Deidara concluded. Tenten squeaked in surprise when he picked her up bridal-style. "Hold your breath." She had enough time to inhale sharply before they sank into the stone floor. In the space of a few heartbeats they emerged in a different part of the base that Tenten recognized as Deidara's apartment. "Where were we?" he asked.

They reminded each other, at some length.

* * *

Wandering into the training room at the time he had reserved it for, Hoshikage Kisame's eyebrows rose slightly when he noticed a discarded Akatsuki cloak in the corner near the targets. Curious, he wandered over, crouching by the lost cloak and inhaling deeply through his nose, the three slits on each side of his face opening slightly as he did so. Then he blinked before chuckling quietly. Picking up the cloak, he hung it on a hook outside of the training room before closing himself inside. The fish-faced Akatsuki figured if the scents clinging to it were any indication, Deidara wouldn't be back for his cloak anytime soon, and might object to it getting soaked in water.

* * *

If Sasori noticed that Deidara and Tenten were a bit late for lunch, or that her buns and his ponytail were slightly more mussed than usual, he didn't comment on it.

Outsiders to the Akatsuki wouldn't think of them as being decent cooks, but since the organization prized secrecy, they couldn't exactly have servants to tend to them. Their unique skillsets took care of a number of mundane issues: Kisame's prodigious chakra and elemental affinity drew water from the aquifer below into cisterns that fed into the rooms. Garbage was left at communal spots in the base, and twice a week the cheerfully enigmatic masked Akatsuki known as Tobi simply looked at the accumulated debris and made it vanish into thin air.

Like most members, Sasori cooked in the manner of his homeland, so when they arrived he had tea and a steaming pot of stew waiting. It was a savory and spicy mix of goat, tomato, peppers and a strain of edible cactus that replaced potatoes as a starch in most dishes from Sunagakure.

When the meal was done and cleared away, Sasori got down to the matter at hand. "I've suffered a bit of a setback, and I was hoping to share my thoughts with you as to how to proceed," he said, with a glance at Tenten, who looked startled.

"I'll help however I can, Sasori-sensei," she replied promptly.

"Good. I've spoken to you before of the difficulty of getting spies into your old village. I have only a handful in place. Orochimaru's paranoia serves him well, unfortunately, as we really are out to get him. I received word today that my most highly placed spy in Konohagakure is dead."

Tenten sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that. Were they found out by ANBU?"

Sasori shook his head. "The only silver lining in the cloud is that he wasn't uncovered; he was an active duty shinobi and was simply killed during a routine mission for the Hokage that went bad. But regardless of the circumstances, I'm left with a hole in my intelligence network, and I'd like your insights into how best to fill it. Who do you feel we could have the best chance of approaching and convincing to aid us, among the ranks of Konohagakure's disaffected?" He placed a handful of dossiers on the table. "The information you've given me has been invaluable, and I wanted your input."

Tenten nodded, feeling a leaden weight in her gut as she glanced over the files of the Leaf ninja with shaky loyalties that Sasori had selected. After several minutes of silence in which she separated the files into two stacks, she shook her head. "None of them," she answered finally.

Sasori looked at her calmly. "Your reasoning?"

Tenten placed her hand on the first and much larger stack. The one on top was Mizuki, a silver-haired chuunin with his hitai-ate worn as a bandanna. "Any of these ones are more loyal to money than the village; you could buy their services, but I wouldn't pick them."

"Why not? Most spies work for greed rather than ideology," Sasori countered reasonably.

"I know, but none of these are trustworthy, and none of them are subtle enough to avoid notice for long even if they don't turn around and sell you out to Orochimaru. You could approach any of these for a one-time information dump, but if you're looking to cultivate a long-term source, none of them can do it."

"I see. What about those ones?" Sasori pointed to the second, smaller stack of files. The one on top had a picture of Yuuhi Kurenai, a jounin with wild black hair and red eyes.

Tenten felt her throat tighten. "These ones might be willing to help us for the same reason I joined; they oppose the policies of the Hokage and may risk everything for a chance to get rid of him if they're convinced it's possible."

"Then wouldn't those be our best candidates?" Sasori asked.

"Yes, but Orochimaru and his ANBU captains are good at what they do. These people are all most likely under observation just like I was before you captured me. Approaching them might get us a long-term agent, or it might get some good people killed."

Tenten was startled when Sasori gently put a hand on hers. "I understand, Tenten. You don't want to endanger these people. I don't either, but we need embedded agents in the villages if we're to have any hope of freeing them from the kages. You know that."

Tenten nodded dejectedly, before an idea occurred to her that was so simple she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it as soon as Sasori made the problem clear. "You want a spy who's an active duty Leaf shinobi, right?" Sasori nodded. "Why not skip the initial contact and recruitment and use someone we already have?"

Deidara, who had remained silent through the exchange, figured it out first. "Tenten, no."

Sasori considered it. "It's an interesting idea, Tenten, but we don't have any Akatsuki members to spare for something like that, and even if we did, getting a shinobi who's an outsider into Konohagakure's ranks is next to impossible."

Seeing Deidara about to object, Tenten plowed forward. "Send me back to Konohagakure. I can be your spy."

Sasori looked at Tenten with surprise, then at Deidara, whose expression was mutinous. "I'm not certain that's feasible either," Sasori said carefully. "A few months ago we could have contrived an 'escape', perhaps, but it's been too long. Orochimaru will be suspicious of you. You don't look like you've been a prisoner."

Tenten shook her head. "Then we sell it. We make it look like I _have_ been a prisoner."

"Tenten, you know what that will entail," Deidara said, looking worried. "You know what Orochimaru will expect."

"Wounds from torture, broken bones, torn nails, restraint marks, malnutrition… we can simulate those injuries," she said matter-of-factly. "After this long they'll expect that I've been raped. I'm sure Konan can help me come up with something convincing."

"Tenten, that's insane, you can't-" Deidara exclaimed.

"Even if that worked, what happens when they delve into your mind to find out what you told us over the course of receiving those injuries?" Sasori interrupted.

"All they'll find are mental fuuinjutsu seals full of false memories you'll have placed in my mind, sensei. I know you're capable of making me believe the lies behind the wounds. That way I won't have to act and whoever they send from the Yamanaka clan to dredge my memories will corroborate the cover story instead of disproving it."

When Sasori didn't raise another objection, Deidara looked at him in disbelief. "You can't be considering this!" Then he turned back to Tenten. "Tenten, there are other ways to get a spy into Konohagakure, you don't have to do this."

Tenten smiled sadly. "I joined the Akatsuki to save Konohagakure, Deidara. I couldn't live with myself if one of the few good people left in that village died because we asked them to do something I wasn't willing to do myself." She looked back to Sasori. "I can do this. You know I can."

Sasori considered that for a time. "There is another issue at hand, which the Leader will surely raise if I bring this proposal to him. If you were compromised, your knowledge of certain things, such as the location of this base and the nature of our plans could fall into the wrong hands."

Tenten shrugged. "The same holds true for any member of the Akatsuki."

"You're not a full member yet," Sasori reminded her.

"Then make me a full member now. You said today I'm ready for the test."

"I said your progress exceeded my expectations," Sasori contradicted her. "But I also don't know who the Leader will pick to test you, and some of our members are still very dangerous for you to face. In another eight months you'll be ready without a doubt, and probably sooner than that. The trial is no holds barred, Tenten, and if you fail you'll die for nothing."

Tenten's determination didn't waver. "The same was true of the jounin exam, but that didn't stop me. I'm willing to take the risk. It's less chancy than trying to recruit a new spy, and you know it. Both of you," she added, looking Deidara in the eye and daring him to challenge her. He looked seriously unhappy, but didn't contradict her and nodded reluctantly.

Sasori rose to his feet. "I will confer with the Leader about your offer. His answer will be final." Tenten nodded in acceptance, and Sasori left her alone with Deidara in his apartment.

Moving beside her, Deidara took her hand. "Your confidence and courage is one of the things I like about you, Tenten, but I wish you weren't so dead-set on doing this. I don't want to lose you – to the test or to your village."

"I don't want to go," Tenten admitted. "Especially not now," she added pressing a hand to his chest. "But I know I'm right about this, and I can do a lot of good for the Akatsuki back in Konohagakure."

"What about what's good for you? Have you been on an open-ended deep cover mission before?" Deidara pressed, and Tenten shook her head guiltily.

"I've been trained for them," she said.

"Training doesn't prepare you for a mission like this," Deidara said insistently. "You have to live the cover. You'll have to become the person you were before you came here and live that life every waking moment; you can't ever let it slip, because you'll be under suspicion for a long time even if you get past the initial inquest. I don't…" Deidara looked away, and let go of her hand. "It's selfish of me, I'm sorry."

Understanding dawned on Tenten. "You think I'll forget about you, about us, once I'm back home." He nodded guiltily and she pressed a hand to his cheek, making him look at her. "I understand, but please have faith in me. I may have to go and act like I haven't changed, but I have, and that's something I will _never_ forget! You and Sasori have given me so much; a new life, a new purpose. You've given me the power to fight for the day when my home will be free of Orochimaru and I'll be free to come back to you. Every day I'm in Konohagakure, I will look forward to that day, and that's a promise."

Deidara enfolded her in his arms, crushing her to his chest, and that's how Sasori found them when he returned. Clearing his throat from the doorway, he waited for them to disentangle themselves. "Tenten, the Leader has agreed to allow you to be evaluated early. Tomorrow at noon you will be tested on your ability to become a full Akatsuki."

* * *

As Sasori promised, a day later Tenten entered the chamber that housed the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Sasori and Deidara followed her, and in the gloom that surrounded the statue other members of the Akatsuki waited. Tenten was surprised to realize that all of them were physically here. She spotted some familiar faces; Hidan and Konan stood on the statue's knees, the avatar of Jashin giving her a friendly if worried smile. _At least I won't have to fight him,_ Tenten thought. While the Leader picked the member to evaluate an applicant at random, it was never the applicant's sponsor, the sponsor's partner, or Hidan. The sponsoring pair was viewed as insufficiently distanced from the applicant to come at them with true killing intent, and Hidan was incapable of killing someone who had not earned Jashin's wrath.

That left a lot of other Akatsuki that the Leader could pick from, though. The purple swirls of his Rinnegan gazed down from his spot on the statue's right hand. "Tenten of Konohagakure has petitioned to be allowed to undergo her trial and become a full Akatsuki early, in preparation for a mission to infiltrate her former village, which we have approved on the condition that she passes the trial." A few of the other Akatsuki reacted with visible surprise, including Konan. The blue haired woman looked at Tenten with concern, but didn't intervene as Tenten stepped forward calmly, ready to face the test. For the first time since her capture she had the comforting weight of her main storage scroll on her back; she'd made herself a new one, incorporating improvements from the new techniques and seals Sasori had taught her.

The Leader's gaze turned to the statue's left hand, where two shadowed figures waited. Tenten could tell that the larger of the pair was Kisame, identifiable by his massive silhouette. She hadn't met his partner yet, a man of more normal proportions, and his face was hidden in shadow. It was that partner that the Leader addressed. "Itachi, will you do us the honor of evaluating your fellow expatriate of the Leaf village?"

When Tenten heard that name, her breath froze in her throat. _It can't be. What are the odds that HE would be here? _She heard Deidara swear quietly behind her. Kisame's partner jumped down from the statue's hand without a word, and as he fell into the torchlight of the lower chamber, Tenten's heart sank. The man looked like an older version of his brother Sasuke, a bit leaner and with a more deeply lined face, but the resemblance was undeniable, and the spinning, fully formed sharingan locked onto her as he landed.

"Itachi, you have three minutes to kill her. Begin," the Leader commanded.

* * *

_Author's Note: A New Year's Eve cliffhanger! Yay! *ducks*_


	9. Sharingan Death Match

**Chapter 9: Sharingan Death Match**

* * *

_Tenten among the Akatsuki, Month Four_

"Begin," the Leader commanded.

Before Uchiha Itachi's feet even hit the ground in front of her, Tenten looked away from his famous face. _Rule #1: Make eye contact with a sharingan and you're already dead._ Once her initial fear at facing her village's most famous nuke-nin faded, she realized that it could be worse. Yes, Itachi was a genius and one of the most dangerous shinobi alive, but she knew what to expect, at least. She knew how to fight a sharingan user. She couldn't get complacent, and the gap between his skill and hers was so wide that her survival prospects for the next three minutes weren't looking very good, but at least she wasn't up against an opponent with abilities unknown to her, like Tobi or Kisame.

_Rule #2: Some of the sharingan's tricks don't require eye contact._ The instructions in Tenten's head were in Maito Gai's voice, because he was the one who had passed on his hard-won knowledge of how to counter Konohagakure's deadliest dojutsu.

Itachi didn't move right away, but Tenten felt something foreign ticking at the edges of her chakra network. It was masterfully subtle, but Tenten knew her own chakra too well not to notice it. Eyes narrowing, she interrupted her chakra flow for a moment, and felt the genjutsu dissipate before it even started to affect her. "Please, give me some credit," she told Itachi. "You're not getting into my head."

In response, Itachi's fingers blurred as he formed hand signs faster than anyone Tenten had ever seen including his younger brother, but she recognized the signs and guessed what was coming her way. Before dodging or forming a jutsu of her own, Tenten's hand dipped into her pouch and came out with a handful of smoke bombs that she hurled onto the ground between herself and Itachi.

_Rule #3: If the sharingan can see you, ninjutsu and taijutsu are pointless._ The cloud of smoke was lit up with a ruddy orange light from Itachi's side, and Tenten knew she had about half a second before the man-sized fireball the Uchiha were so fond of hit her. She responded by hurling a kunai wrapped with a few explosive notes into its path before jumping back. Notes met fireball and detonated violently, dispelling the blazing attack, the shockwave propelling Tenten further back.

Before she landed she had a pair of small scrolls out of her pouch and leapt into the air as she unsealed them, letting the twin paper trails form a double helix around her as she rose up. Itachi darted through the smoke cloud below her, katana in hand and sharingan locking back onto her. _Sorry Itachi, those eyes can't copy fuuinjutsu!_ Tenten forced her chakra into both scrolls, releasing their contents. One was a standard Rising Dragon scroll, and dozens of weapons started popping out of it, which Tenten hurled at Itachi with unerring accuracy. She didn't expect to hit him at this range, but her aim was good enough to prevent him from jumping at her, and that allowed the second scroll to do its work. Tenten grinned as it released dozens more smoke bombs that flew in every direction and detonated, filling the room with a thick haze; she could hear some coughing as the audience started retreating to escape.

At the apex of her leap she reached the statue's left hand and landed on it, noting that Kisame had surrounded himself with a shield of water vapor rather than retreat from the smoke. He grinned at her as she darted past him and jumped again, aiming for the ceiling this time. Landing upside down on the room's high ceiling, Tenten loosened her main sealing scroll from the straps holding it on the small of her back and pressed it to the ceiling where she adhered it with chakra, running along the ceiling and unrolling it as she went. When an entire section was attached to the ceiling it detached from the rest of the scroll, and she slung the rest of it back across her back.

Then she had to kick off of the ceiling and drop into the smoke as Itachi emerged from the haze barreling towards her. She twisted in midair but still felt the cold kiss of steel as the tip of his blade scored the back of her left thigh. Then their opposing momentum separated them for a second, and Tenten righted herself, ignoring the blood dampening her pants from the sword cut. Far enough away from Itachi that he couldn't see her hand signs, she formed them as she fell, and when she landed with both feet hitting the ground hard, called, "Doton: Choyakuiwa!" Itachi plummeted out of the smoke right at her, but instead of attacking he had to dodge or parry the dozen or so smaller stone projectiles that fired up from the floor around Tenten. One got past his defense and struck him in the shoulder, but instead of being wounded, Itachi disappeared in a cloud of smoke. _Shadow clone!_

Tenten didn't waste any time trying to figure out which direction the real Itachi would be coming from, instead making the hand signs for her next technique as quickly as possible. "Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu!" _[Hiding Like a Mole Technique]_ Itachi's flashing blade passed over Tenten's head close enough to shave off some hairs from her buns as she dropped into the ground. A split second after the earth closed over her head she felt a sting of a deep cut on her cheek as Itachi thrust his blade straight down into the stone after her, scoring her face before she sank deep enough that he couldn't hit her.

Safe for the moment, Tenten considered her next move while she moved laterally through the ground. Itachi would undoubtedly be waiting wherever she emerged from the rock. Tenten formed a pair of rock clones around a handful of explosive tags from her pouch and equalized her chakra with them. Then she made a final set of hand signs, triggering the scroll she'd left attached to the ceiling. Pausing just long enough to draw her tanto, Tenten and both of her clones emerged from the ground.

Judging from the poofs of white smoke she saw, triggering the Heavenly Chain of Destruction on the ceiling and calling down a rain of fast-moving weapons had dispelled more of Itachi's clones. A pair of kunai hit one of her rock clones, which detonated spectacularly. A spray of small fireballs destroyed the other clone a moment later with a similarly pyrotechnic result, and then Tenten found herself under attack once more. Tenten blocked a few of Itachi's lightning-fast strikes with the tanto before missing a parry and feeling his blade open a gash on her left arm.

"Any more tricks?" Itachi inquired conversationally as he drove her back in a steady retreat from the whirling storm of death his katana had become.

"Oh, lots," Tenten panted. "You sure you should be breathing this smoke?" she inquired, referring to the haze that still filled the room. It was a bluff, but it made him hesitate, which gave Tenten the moment she needed to tear open her grenade pouch and hurl half a dozen spiked metal balls in his direction. Itachi leapt away while Tenten dropped to one knee and pressed a hand to the floor, exerting her earth chakra without hand signs to pull up a waist-high wall of rock to shield herself from the explosion that showered her surroundings with shrapnel. Then she was rolling away into the haze as Itachi closed in from a new angle.

Tenten had been keeping time in her head, and Itachi's window was running out, but she couldn't get overconfident; she was bleeding from cuts on her arm, leg and face, and she was running out of ninja tools and chakra. The problem came into focus when two more Itachis shot out of the haze from different directions, one unleashing a storm of fist-sized fireballs at her while the other closed with its sword. Tenten threaded her body through the rain of fire in a leaping dodge and felt the cold kiss of Itachi's blade slicing her right shoulder open. That clone succeeded in dodging a kick to the head but failed to avoid a tanto strike to the chest that made it vanish in a puff of smoke.

A kick from the remaining Itachi caught Tenten in the stomach before she landed, and she fell into a roll away from Itachi as his blade clanged off of the floor. Struggling for breath, Tenten got to her feet and transferred her tanto to her left hand as she started losing feeling in the right. A quick glance at her shoulder showed that the cut was deep, down to the bone, and blood was flowing down her limp arm.

With Itachi closing in again, and blood loss becoming a serious issue, Tenten needed something to give her some more time, and she grimaced. _Kami I hate doing this,_ she thought before reaching into her own chakra network and wrenching open both of the Inner Gates at her command.

Itachi's charge faltered as Tenten's chakra expanded, wreathing her body in a pale green glow. Her eyes turned pure white, and her hair burst free from its buns, surrounding her head in a shimmering halo for a moment before falling free around her shoulders, moving in waves as her chakra pulsed against it.

Strength flowed into her body from the Gate of Opening, and the Gate of Healing caused her muscle fibers to flex and draw her wounds closed for the time being. Tenten battled the sense of euphoria that came with the opening of Inner Gates, focusing on Itachi, who took less than a second to react to Tenten's actions before inclining his head in respect and blurring through hand signs that formed two more clones that charged her while he hurled a handful of shuriken at her that turned into a cloud of dozens after another jutsu.

Tenten simply made use of her enhanced strength to jump straight up before the clones or shuriken got close, deflecting a few kunai with her tanto before reaching the ceiling, flipping and kicking off of that in a new direction, leaving the pursuing clones behind. Reaching the wall, she stuck to it for a fraction of a second before hurling throwing a few kunai at where Itachi had been standing, then jumping back towards the ceiling in the direction she'd come. As expected, the clones were in hot pursuit, but not prepared for her to be engaging them, when she'd spent the length of the bout trying to avoid Itachi. One took a kick to the head that snapped its neck around 180 degrees, while the other got a tanto slash that opened up its neck before momentum carried Tenten past them.

Tenten's only warning was twin flashes of light behind her as the clones exploded violently instead of dissipating. She couldn't avoid the shockwave, which added to her momentum and knocked her out of position. She hit the ceiling with painful force, and then was falling through the smoke. Struggling to right herself, Tenten was kicked from behind and above by the real Itachi, and hit the ground poorly, biting back a cry of pain as bones in her right leg broke from the landing.

Pushing past the pain she rolled to the side as Itachi descended, driving the blade of his katana down where her torso had been, slicing open a long gash along a rib. He dodged a handful of shuriken with contemptuous ease, then his foot came down on her broken leg, hard, and Tenten screamed, her vision blurring from the pain as she saw Itachi draw back his blade and thrust at her head. She threw up her arm, gasping as the razor blade slid between the bones of her forearm, the bloody tip emerging and sliding inexorably toward her.

"Time," the Leader's voice said as it emerged from the smoke that filled the room, and even though Tenten heard it, she found it difficult to focus on anything other than the tip of the katana blade centimeters from her left eye, her own blood running down its length and dripping onto her face from her skewered arm.

Breaking rule number one, she looked Itachi in the eye, and saw the knowledge in his spinning tomoe. None of the other Akatsuki could see them. He could finish the thrust into her brain and none of them would know. But he didn't. Instead he knelt, took ahold of her wrist and carefully drew his blade out of her arm without widening the wound before stepping back

Figures in the haze resolved into members of the Akatsuki, who closed around her in a ring, and she saw some of their faces for the first time, including Zetsu, whose venus fly trap head was weird enough that Tenten wasn't sure she wasn't hallucinating. Her breath caught when she saw that the Leader had also revealed himself, a tall young man with a number of thick metal piercings who almost looked like Naruto, but older and with orange hair instead of blond, his Rinnegan staring into her soul.

Sasori and Kakuzu moved forward as Tenten lost hold of the Inner Gates and her wounds started bleeding again. Sasori started bandaging some wounds and feeding green healing chakra into them, while Kakuzu's black threads started knitting others together. As soon as she lost the Gates the pain hit, all over her body, from dozens of sprains and muscle tears. This was the part she hated about the Inner Gates, and Neji shared her opinion that Gai and Lee were both masochists at heart to use them in combat so often. Adding in the pain of her other wounds, the broken leg knitting as Sasori mended it and the lost blood, Tenten considered it a victory that she was managing not to pass out as the Leader weighed her with those impossible eyes.

"Itachi, is she fit to be one of us in truth?" The Leader posed the question, and Tenten's breath caught in her throat. The rules of the test had been survival, but another second and she would have been dead.

Sharingan met Rinnegan, and Itachi shrugged before breaking the Leader's gaze, producing a rag from under his robe and using it to clean her blood from his sword. "It's been three minutes and she's still alive. I wasn't holding back." That was all he said before sheathing his sword.

"So be it. Tenten, welcome to the true Akatsuki," the Leader said. Deidara slipped her good arm over his shoulder and helped her to her feet, steadying her as she got her balance. She shook the Leader's hand when he offered it amid murmured congratulations from Hidan, Kisame, Konan and her mentors. Konan handed her a folded cloak with the red clouds embroidered on it.

"Thank you," Tenten replied gratefully, to the Leader and the others. "I won't let you down." With nods of acknowledgement most of them dispersed, though Sasori, Deidara, Kakuzu, Hidan and Konan lingered.

Tenten looked at the cloak in her arms and then at Deidara, who wore a relieved smile. "This is an honor, but unfortunately I can't wear it or risk having it in my possession where I'm going." Reaching up with her free hand Tenten untied her scored Leaf hitai-ate and put it on top of the cloak before extending both to Deidara. "Will you hold onto these for me until the day I come back for them?"

Deidara looked at the items, then her, his eyes a mystery as he took them in his hands. "Of course," he replied.

Then Kakuzu's meaty hand clapped her on the shoulder he had just finished sewing back together and she winced at the fresh pain. "Sasori's filled us in on your plan," he informed her in an amused tone.

"And you're crazy for coming up with it," Konan added tartly.

"But since Itachi's already done half the work of making you look like you're on death's door, there's no time like the present to finish the job," Kakuzu concluded. "C'mon, step into my parlor and we'll give you a look that will give your friends back in the Leaf village nightmares!"

Tenten swallowed hard as Kakuzu's arm engulfed her shoulders and he guided her towards his quarters, Hidan and Konan trailing behind. "As long as it doesn't give _me_ nightmares," Tenten shot back.

Kakuzu's harsh laughter was not reassuring.

"I'm going to get started on the necessary seals, Tenten," Sasori informed her. "They'll be ready by the time Kakuzu and Konan are done."

"Great," Tenten muttered, limping along and trying not to think about how much pain she was already in, and how much more she had signed up for.

* * *

_Author's Note: Another short chapter and we're done with Tenten's initial time with the Akatsuki. Now, on to the Chuunin Exams!_

_Itachi's such a beast that writing a fight between him and Tenten (that she survives) isn't easy. I hope I did it justice._

_Yes, it occurred to me that he could have fried her with Amaterasu or torn her apart with Susanoo, but bear in mind that a) none of the senior Akatsuki are going to bust out their best tricks to test an initiate, and b) that shit damages his eyes, so he's sparing in its use._

_Tenten also had a few advantages, like resistance to genjutsu and knowing better than looking him in the damn eyes. Maybe Sasuke gets a pass since he's rocking the Eyes of Infinite Cheat Codes too, but Naruto had no excuse to fall into the sharingan every damn time he met Itachi._


	10. Tactics of Trust

Chapter 10: Tactics of Trust

* * *

_Second Round of the Chuunin Exam_

Amaya, Ken and Kaede sat quietly around a cheery fire fed by dry wood from a large stack at the back of the shelter, a natural cave that had been expanded by hand. A narrow, twisting cleft in the rock above allowed the smoke to escape without much snow getting in, and the only entry to the cave was a winding tunnel that opened out behind a row of high, thorny hedges.

They never would have found the cave without their map, but with it they were warm, dry and their packs were full of supplies; when they reached the first shelter on the map they had taken as much food and other useful supplies as they could carry without sacrificing speed before moving on. They were now in the second shelter near the far edge of the forest, less than a day's journey from the pass that lead up into the mountains. They'd beaten the storm there by hours; now it howled like a mad demon outside, audible even in their well concealed shelter.

Even with the storm raging they had taken precautions. The tunnel in was lined with traps and sentry bugs. Amaya was confident there wasn't a genin in the competition that could sneak up on them here. As soon as the storm blew over they'd be on their way and on the hunt for another team; two-thirds of their competition was likely to be worn out or even injured if they hadn't found some manner of protection from the storm.

The mood around the fire should have been jubilant, but instead it was tense. None of them had spoken while preparing and eating dinner, and now that the food was done, the quiet had become painful.

"Why did you do it, Amaya?" Ken finally asked, laying out the uncomfortable question. Kaede's silvery eyes searched Amaya's features as well from behind her dark glasses and hood.

Amaya grimaced, but didn't answer right away. Sighing, Ken looked at Kaede. "I know why she did it," Kaede said slowly. "I simply do not know if it was the right choice or not, and I would have preferred some discussion of that course of action before it was taken."

Once they'd raided the first shelter, the log cabin in a hidden thicket, Kaede and Ken were back in the trees when they realized Amaya wasn't with them. Turning back, they had seen what she intended, but were too far away to stop her. Making familiar hand signs, she called out "Katon: Gokakyu," _[Great Fireball]_ and unleashed a flaming orb from her lips that swelled to be as tall as she was before hitting the cabin, setting the dry logs of its walls ablaze. She gave the building one glance to make sure it was well ablaze and then sprinted for her stunned teammates.

"Amaya, what the hell?" Ken had exclaimed.

"I'll explain later, we need to move now, before the smoke draws our competition," was all she said before taking to the trees and making top speed towards the mountains in the distance. Exchanging a troubled look, Ken and Kaede had no choice but to follow Amaya, and the pace she set left little room for talk. Twice Kaede's bug scouts ahead of them gave them bare warning of approaching teams that they avoided by stealth or speed.

"There wasn't time to discuss it, Kaede. You know we were working against the clock," Amaya answered.

"That would be an acceptable explanation if I thought for a moment you hadn't planned to do that as soon as you saw the map," Kaede shot back. "That wasn't a spur of the moment decision, Amaya. You intended to destroy the first shelter before we left the starting point."

Ken looked back and forth between them. "Why destroy it at all?"

Amaya pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed before getting out the map and laying it out on a rock. Ken and Kaede moved closer. "There were three shelters in the forest. Two near the starting area in the west, and this one here on the east side of the forest near the mountain pass." They both nodded.

Kaede drew a kanji for 'fire' over the northwest one that she'd burned. "I destroyed that first shelter because there are three other teams out there with the same map we have. Since we got to the northwest shelter before any of them, it was good odds that we were faster than any of them, unless some of them headed to the southwest shelter. Since we barely beat the storm here and no one's found this one either, none of the other teams with supply maps got this far, so they all had to double back to avoid the storm. If we'd left the northwest shelter intact, there would have been two options for those three teams. But since the northwest shelter was destroyed in such a visible manner, all three of those teams now have to fight over the southwest shelter. Given the slim chances of three Cloud or Mist teams having the three other supply maps, burning the northwest shelter means some of our opponents will have to fight each other to stay warm tonight. I did it to eliminate at least one and maybe two other teams without throwing a single punch or kunai."

When she finished, Ken was looking at Amaya with a look somewhere between admiration and horror.

"What if one of those teams with supply maps didn't see the smoke or didn't realize what it meant, and is trapped in this storm now because of it?" Kaede inquired. "You could be responsible for the deaths of other genin."

"I can live with that," Amaya answered, and Ken's jaw dropped.

"How can you say that?" he asked, stricken.

"Where do you think we are, Ken?" Amaya snapped. "We don't have any friends out here. Konohamaru wouldn't hesitate to attack us because he's an arrogant prick, and sensei wasn't lying about the Inuzukas. They'd murder us given half a chance. So would the foreign genin. I'm not going to mourn any other team that dies in this storm, because that's one less team gunning for us, and one less team to face in the finals."

"Amaya!" Kaede said sharply. "You have no place to speak to Ken like that." Amaya and Ken both looked at Kaede in surprise; the Aburame rarely raised her voice or spoke in such a tone. "Nor was it your place to make the decision to destroy the shelter without talking to us about it. We agreed when Tenten-sensei first became our teacher that our squad wouldn't be ruled by fiat as Konohamaru's is. _You_ agreed to that."

"So you think we should have left that shelter standing?" Amaya demanded.

"No, my earlier question was rhetorical," Kaede replied evenly. "I agree with your analysis of our situation and I agree with your goal in destroying the shelter, but your method was foolhardy. If you had _discussed _your plan with us we could have _accomplished_ your goals more effectively."

"Really? How?"

Kaede began ticking off fingers. "We could have poisoned the remaining food instead of burning it. We could have set traps in and around the cabin. My kikai bugs could have weakened the timber of the cabin enough that it would have collapsed during the storm. All of these things could have been done quickly and with more subtlety than blowing up the shelter with a big fireball. We were almost caught by other teams twice because of the smoke signal you created."

By the time Kaede finished, Ken was giving her the same disturbed look Amaya had gotten minutes earlier.

"Those are all good ideas," Amaya conceded, her temper cooling. "You have lots of good ideas Kaede, so why didn't you suggest any of that when we were raiding the shelter?"

Kaede shrugged. "I kept my thoughts to myself in the interest of team unity. I suspected Ken would have objected to the plan, and judging by the way he looks right now I'd say that was correct."

Ken nodded reluctantly as both girls looked at him. "I try to think of what Lee-sensei and Tenten-sensei would do," he said quietly.

"I understand," Amaya admitted. "Truth is I almost didn't do it. But Ken, Tenten-sensei was an active-duty kunoichi before she became our sensei. She's conducted assassinations. She's helped end sieges, and the usual way to do that is to sneak inside the fort and poison the wells. All of our teachers have had to get their hands dirty, even Lee-sensei. It's part of being a ninja." Amaya sighed. "But Kaede, you're right. I'm sorry I acted without talking to you guys."

"Apology accepted," Kaede said quietly, and Ken nodded jerkily. "Amaya is right too, Ken. Consider this: do you think Lee and Tenten would rather that we fought effectively and lived to see them, or fought honorably and died far from home?"

Ken considered that. "I think Lee-sensei would say that the purpose of our strength is to avoid that duality; to be strong enough to fight honorably _and_ win. That's what I'm working for."

"Fair enough," Kaede admitted. "I only hope you won't think less of us for being sneaky on occasion."

Ken started stammering a denial before he saw Kaede's faint smile and realized that the Aburame girl was teasing him. Amaya chuckled, then got to her feet and picked up her warm, long coat, putting it on and wrapping a scarf around her face. "I'm going to go scout around the entrance. I won't go far." Before she left, she gave Kaede the plaque and map. Then she headed down the tunnel, avoiding the traps they'd set.

From the cave mouth she saw the tall bushes concealing the entrance whipping back and forth in the howling wind. Mindful of the thorns she activated her sharingan and waited for a lull in the wind to dart out between the bushes.

The next gale almost knocked Amaya off of her feet before she gripped the dense, wet snow with chakra in her boot soles. She quickly made her way behind the thick bole of a tree for shelter from the wind, and scanned the forest. They shelter was on a small hill with a decent view of the surrounding forest. From her vantage point, Amaya's sharingan scanned the area around her. Without her clan's dojutsu she would have been almost blind; the clouds blotted out the moon, and only occasional flashes of lightning broke the gloom. But her uncle Sasuke had taught her the trick for operating in darkness with the sharingan; if she focused on it, the afterimage of the illuminated landscape from the lightning flashes remained in her vision even when the dark returned. It didn't allow her to track motion, of course, but it was superb for darting from tree to tree, sheltering from the wind and driving snow as she circled the hill.

Halfway around the hill Amaya spotted a point of orange light just under a kilometer away, coming from a thick stand of oak trees. She studied it long enough to realize that it wasn't a fire caused by a lightning strike; the light was too steady. It had to be another team of genin, trying to keep warm in the storm. They obviously didn't have a supply map, or they'd already have attacked.

Amaya contemplated the idea of getting Kaede and Ken, but dismissed the thought. It was too far a distance for her night blind team mates to cover; but that didn't mean Amaya couldn't scout out who was there and get some intel so they could attack in the morning. Making up her mind, Amaya headed for the distant light, suppressing her chakra as Tenten had taught her and moving noiselessly through the shadows.

When she got close, she started moving only when the wind howled and the sky was dark. It made for slow progress, but she got close without alerting her quarry. Having slowly crawled through some bushes on her belly, Amaya peered into the rough camp. There were three genin huddled around a small fire that flickered and wavered in the cold wind that penetrated even into the dense thicket where they'd taken shelter. The tan leather of their coats, the bandages wrapped around the taller boy and the hitai-ate of the kunoichi identified them as hailing from Sunagakure. _They don't have any allies either,_ Amaya reflected. Only one team of Sand genin had made it into the second round, and they hadn't crossed paths with Team Tenten so far in the exam.

All three were bundled up against the cold enough that their features and gear were hidden, but as she studied them, Amaya's eyes narrowed. When the Sand kunoichi leaned forward to warm her hands, Amaya spotted the outline of two small battle fans on her belt. She had bandages wrapped around her head above her hitai-ate, but Amaya glimpsed brown hair sticking out in places. _Probably a wind user,_ Amaya concluded.

The shorter and stockier of the two boys wore a hooded black suit under his winter coat and white-on-red face paint, and had a bandage-wrapped package as tall as he was sitting next to him, and he seemed as concerned for its wellbeing as his own. _Definitely a puppeteer._

The third one was a tall, slender boy who was bandaged like a mummy; his whole head save for his dark eyes and his arms and legs were all wrapped, under a Sand genin outfit and warm over clothes. Amaya couldn't guess his specialty.

_Wait a minute! Brown haired kunoichi with battle fans, a puppeteer built like an Akimichi and bandage boy? Couldn't be…_ Then all doubt was removed when the wind and snow extinguished the small, struggling fire. A moment later light returned, not yellow but red, a head-sized glowing orb hovering over the hand of the tall, bandaged genin and radiating heat. The other two threw damp, snowy wood in the fire pit before their companion tossed his red ball after it. A hissing cloud of steam erupted from the pit, and the wood, suddenly dry, started burning fiercely.

_No way! Team Sand Crab's here in the Exams!_ Amaya realized with shock. Unlike Leaf genin teams, Sand genin were named after a desert animal mascot instead of their jounin sensei, and Team Tenten knew this group of Sand genin; they'd shared a room in the barracks for months in Sunagakure. The kunoichi was a wind specialist named Sira, the puppeteer was a doleful boy named Poe, and their tall leader was Rahl, the son of Sunagakure's most famous kunoichi and heir to its most formidable kekkei genkai. His mother was Pakura, a living legend of the Sand, and he commanded the fearsome Scorch Release, a deadly combination of Fire and Air chakra natures. His usual costume wrapped in bandages was a grim homage to his kekkei genkai, which could mummify enemies instantly.

Amaya reassessed her plans. Even in an ambush and with her team warm and better rested, attacking Rahl's team was a dicey prospect. Their only chance would be to kill or incapacitate Rahl before he knew he was under attack; anything less and they'd all be at his mercy. Amaya had one untested counter to the Scorch Release that _might_ work, or might get her killed.

But thinking about it, Amaya realized that the situation wasn't as bad as she'd first thought. Looking at Rahl, she could see signs of fatigue in his slumped posture. Sunagakure ninja were no strangers to cold, but their desert country didn't have winter storms like this, and they were plainly unprepared for the savagery of the weather. Rahl had to be burning a lot of chakra keeping his team from freezing, but Ken predicted the storm would last for another day at least. By then Rahl would probably be tapped out and his teammates short on sleep; they'd be easy pickings. The three of them might even die in the storm and remove the need to fight at all.

But despite her earlier callousness in burning the northwest shelter, Amaya felt her stomach turn at the prospect of waiting for the Sand genin to die and looting their frozen corpses. Team Tenten and Team Rock Crab had been friends in Sunagakure, had sparred together, and while the Chuunin Exams were adversarial by nature, Amaya was reminded of her initial thought upon seeing what village they were from. Like Team Tenten, Team Sand Crab didn't have any allies in the Exam. _Maybe we can change that_.

Crawling backward out of the bush she had been hiding under, Amaya circled around to the far side of their camp, hiding behind a tree. _Now I just have to get their attention without getting killed._ "Hello the camp," she called.

As soon as they heard her all three were on their feet, putting their backs to the fire. Sira's fans came out, Poe's puppet leapt free of its bindings and Rahl had a pair of scorch orbs in hand. "I just want to talk, Rahl. It's Amaya, from Konohagakure." Rahl spotted her first, as she peered out from behind the tree, ready to run like hell if he showed any sign of tossing a ball of death at her.

Rahl didn't throw his orbs at her. Sira and Poe didn't turn, keeping an eye out for Kaede and Ken.

"Amaya, is it? I'm listening," Rahl replied in his odd, flowing accent.

"You guys look to be in a bad spot," she observed.

"Less than you think," Rahl shot back. "The Scorch Release works as well on wet wood as it does on opportunistic Leaf genin. We're doing fine."

Rahl sounded confident enough that he might have fooled her, but he didn't know that Amaya had unlocked her sharingan since their last meeting. Even in the gloom she could see the faint tremors in his hands. He wasn't far from chakra exhaustion.

"Storms in the Land of Lightning don't end quickly, you know," Amaya pointed out from her shelter behind the tree.

It wasn't Rahl who spoke next, but stocky Poe. "You wouldn't be talking to us if you planned to ambush us. What do you want, Amaya?"

"I'd prefer not to have you three freezing to death on my conscience, to be honest," Amaya shot back, and was surprised to realize she meant it. "If you'll agree not to attack my team we'll do the same and you can join us in the shelter we've been staying in until the storm passes. Then we go our separate ways. Is that acceptable to you?"

"You want to lead us into a trap, you mean," Sira shot back tartly.

"Oh we set up plenty of traps, Sira, but not for you. Poe already said it; if we wanted to fight you we could have ambushed you, or just waited until tomorrow when Rahl's got no chakra left to fight with because he's been lighting fires all night."

Rahl let his scorch orbs fade. "All right, we accept your offer." To their credit, Sira and Poe didn't argue, packing up their gear quickly. Like Rahl, they probably realized they had nothing to lose and a lot to gain. Amaya was the one taking the risk that they wouldn't attack her team once they were in the shelter. The only reason she was confident they'd keep their word was that even once he had the chance to rest; Rahl wouldn't be back to 100% for a few days if he was already suffering tremors, and he wasn't reckless enough to attack her team when they were better rested.

Amaya stepped out from behind the tree and lead the Sand genin through the woods to the hill that hid the entrance to the shelter cave. Holding up a hand, Amaya ducked her head in the tunnel entrance. "Amaya, Ken, I'm back with some guests. Found the Sand Crabs out in the snow," she called.

A few moments passed before Ken came into view holding a torch, a guarded expression on his face as he studied the Sand genin. "Hey, guys," he commented, before glancing at Amaya. "How's the weather out there?" he inquired.

"Oh, just peachy," Amaya replied, and Ken relaxed a bit. 'Peachy' was their "all clear" code word. If Amaya had called the weather 'fierce', Kaede would start triggering traps and unleashing her hive while Ken attacked. Instead, he gestured for them to follow before heading back the way he'd come.

Kaede was waiting for them when they got to the shelter cave. She'd built up the fire and gotten out some more food. The Sand genin abandoned any pretense at a defensive posture to crowd around the blaze.

Rahl sat down, and unwound the bandages around his head. Underneath them he had nut-brown skin and features with a foreign cast that matched his odd accent. His forehead was marked with three vertical red dots in the center, not paint but tattoos. When Team Tenten had met him they'd noticed how much he stood out in Sunagakure, where the natives were all pale-skinned. They learned his story once he got to know them and invited them to his home to meet his family.

Eating dinner with the legendary Pakura was heady enough, but Team Tenten had found Rahl's father and the story of his marriage to Pakura equally intriguing. When Pakura had begun to feel the desire to marry and start a family, she had faced a problem; she was determined to marry someone who saw her as a wife and not just a duty, but in Sunagakure most men were afraid of her, and the matches the Sand Council found were all political or unpalatable to her. So Pakura had convinced the Yondaime Kazekage, Gaara's father, to allow her to leave the village for a time to find a husband to being back to Sunagakure. The Kazekage allowed it, not out of sentimentality, but because Pakura was one of the few people in his village he feared.

Pakura had travelled far to the west of the Land of Wind, leaving the Elemental Nations entirely. In a distant land she met Rahl's father, Rikkard, a mercenary and native of that distant land. They had come to love one another, and with few ties to his homeland, Rikkard had agreed to marry Pakura and settle in Sunagakure. Rikkard wore a bushy, trimmed beard, and his skin was a deep, rich brown. He had a tattoo on his forehead like Rahl's, though his was a set of nine dots in a square. Among his people the number of dots signified achievements in life.

"Thought I'd never be warm again," Sira muttered by the fire, rubbing her slender hands together by the flames.

Once Kaede had some soup warming up over the fire, she glanced at Amaya. "I thought we just had a conversation about making decisions without consulting the team," she said, but there was no sting to the statement.

Amaya shrugged unrepentantly. "Do you object?"

Studying the Sand genin, Kaede shook her head. "No, it's fine."

Rahl looked up from where he was sitting by the fire. "Thank you, all of you. You didn't have to take the risk of offering us shelter, and I appreciate that you did."

"We lived together and trained together. Even if we are in the Chuunin Exam, that doesn't mean we have to be enemies," Ken observed, "at least not in this round."

Once the soup was ready the Sand genin ate with vigor, all three offering their thanks again. Once the food was set aside, Poe looked at the Leaf genin thoughtfully. "You're alone out here, aren't you? I'm surprised you didn't team up with the other squads from your village."

Amaya and Kaede exchanged a silent glance before Kaede nodded in assent. "Honestly, the other two teams from our village aren't trustworthy," Amaya admitted, not seeing the harm. The Sand genin weren't going to tell anyone. "One group's lead by an egomaniac who would attack us out of spite, and the other's a homicidal bunch who don't get along with anyone outside their clan. If we see them, we'll probably have to fight them."

Rahl and Poe looked at each other, then Amaya. "Well, you know we're in a similar situation. We're the only Sunagakure team that made it to this round. Two other teams from our village failed the Interrogation Room test."

Amaya nodded. "Would you be interested in sharing maps? I know you don't have the supply one."

Rahl considered it and then nodded to Sira, who produced her map. Kaede unfolded theirs, and the two girls set them side by side, getting out pencils and copying information from each other. One glance told Amaya that Rahl's team had the trail map, which had a number of routes through the forest and mountains traced out, along with topographical information. Sira marked down the shelters long before Kaede was done getting the trail data.

"It probably doesn't matter at this point, but that shelter's gone," Ken pointed out to Sira.

"What happened to it?" the Sand kunoichi asked.

"I burned it once we raided it," Amaya admitted.

Rahl's eyebrows went up. "That was you?" when Amaya nodded, he grinned. "Good idea. There was a big battle in the area of the other shelter this afternoon. We avoided it so we didn't see who won, but we could see and hear it from far away. Lots of water flying through the air and the ground was shaking, so there was at least one team from Mist and Rock."

Amaya considered that. "Good to know." Then she yawned, and by the time it stopped, Poe and Sira were yawning too. "Why don't we turn in, it's late. Split watches?" she asked Rahl, who nodded.

"Poe and Ken first, Amaya and I second, Sira and Kaede third?" Rahl suggested, and Amaya nodded in agreement. Each pair was roughly equal in strength, minimizing chances for mischief. Poe and Ken moved to spots where they could see the entrance and each other, while the rest got their bedrolls ready.

The storm did indeed last another full day, but the shelter had more than enough food and firewood for both teams, so the time passed in relative comfort. They all chafed at the delay, but since the storm was affecting every team in the exam equally, they could live with it. They passed the time catching up on events since they last met and playing games.

During that idle day, Kaede suggested what Amaya had been thinking since she saw Team Sand Crab out in the snow. "We've established that neither of our teams has much hope of making alliances elsewhere," she stated. Rahl, who was playing shogi with her, nodded in agreement. "Why don't we agree to make this truce an alliance with the goal of getting both of our teams into the final round?"

Sira looked up from a book she was reading. "Won't that force us to hunt down at least twice as many enemies?"

"It would, but it's probably worth it," Poe offered. "Your Leaf friends may have teamed up; it's possible the Rock or Mist genin have made pacts, and I'd be shocked if the Cloud genin didn't have an agreement."

"That was my thinking as well," Kaede confirmed.

Rahl was silent for a little while, staring at the shogi board. "Sira's right, it is a lot more work," he observed before making his move, "and we'll be a bigger target. But two teams from different villages fighting together and doing it well are also the last thing anyone will be expecting, and that alone could make it worthwhile." He looked at Amaya. "Are you on board with this?"

Amaya nodded. "It's been on my mind since I found you three. Besides, even if we got our plaques separately we still don't know where the entrance to the testing area is; if we stick together, we only have to get that information once between us." Remembering earlier conversations, Amaya looked to Ken. "You okay with a team up?"

Ken chuckled. "Sure. Poe convinced me last night."

Rahl gave the stocky puppeteer an arch look, and Poe had the grace to look embarrassed.

"If we're teaming up there's something I should show you," Amaya said, and when all three Sand genin were looking at her, she activated her sharingan. She hadn't progressed passed two tomoe per eye since unlocking it, but the trio looked impressed anyways. Rahl whistled quietly. "Congratulations, Amaya," he said sincerely. Then a nasty grin crossed his face. "Sharingan and Scorch Release; the other teams won't know what hit them!"

* * *

_Author's Note: Look, a chapter! No fighting, just a chance to meet some other genin in the exam. I want to try and briefly introduce the cast of strangers, allies and villains who will be taking part in the final round of the Chuunin Exam so the fights actually mean something instead of just being random genin with cookie cutter abilities duking it out._

_Don't worry if you have to look up Pakura on Narutopedia. She's a somewhat obscure character. In canon she died before the series started and is first shown as "oh look at this other neat ninja with a kekkei genkai Kabuto resurrected!" In Tenten's world, however, Orochimaru's peace of tyranny meant that Pakura was never betrayed and killed. Instead, she had a kid (because the Scorch Release is fun)._


	11. Allies in the Mist

**Chapter 11: Allies in the Mist**

* * *

_Second Round of the Chuunin Exam_

When the fourth day of the Chuunin Exam's Second Round dawned, the driving storm had spent its fury on the testing ground and moved on. When Teams Tenten and Sand Crab emerged from the shelter into the first sunlight in three days, the forest was transformed. The green and brown of the trees was covered over with the pale, shining hues of snow and ice. Dense, wet snow crunched underfoot as they scouted out their surroundings from the hill top.

"What's our next move?" Sira asked Rahl.

"We need to find and engage other genin teams to start collecting plaques," Rahl stated, and Amaya nodded in agreement. "We know there are most more teams behind us than ahead of us, so it would seem to make sense to stay in this area, scout for other teams, and ambush whoever gets close."

"We may want to consider moving into the mountains before doing that, Rahl," Poe suggested quietly.

"I agree," Kaede offered.

Rahl looked at the short puppeteer with a smile. "Lay it out for me, then."

Poe did so literally, brushing a rock bare of snow and unfolding Team Rock Crab's map, now marked with shelters and trails. "Kaede and I discussed this last night, and it's of concern to both of us," he said, pointing to a spot a day's travel to the east of them, where the three mountain passes converged into a single trail before opening out into the peaks where the Final Round arena was hidden. "It's a natural bottleneck, and there isn't a good way around it without earth ninjutsu, which we don't have. You're right that we need to hunt down some other teams, but I'd prefer to get past this spot and do our hunting close to the arena. If we stay in the forest too long we may have to fight someone in that pass, and it's something we should avoid if possible."

Rahl looked over the map. "'Peregrine Pass', huh? What you say makes sense, Poe, but there are drawbacks. The first is that our alliance is a desert team and a forest team. We'll be more effective in the forest than in the high peaks, where there's less shelter from the elements and the air's thinner. Second, in the forest we can pick off teams that haven't fought yet; with a little luck we can take our plaques from some of the weaker teams left and then make for the arena. Up in the mountains, we'll be seeing the ones who have already won battles; the tough cases."

"All of that is true," Kaede conceded, "but if we want enough plaques for both of our teams, someone carrying more than one and possibly wounded from earlier fights isn't much of a drawback; even if they are more skilled, we can still choose encounters where we preserve our numerical advantage."

Rahl considered that before nodding with a shrug. "It works for me. Amaya?"

"If Kaede likes the plan, so do we," the Uchiha girl answered.

Ken voiced his "Yosh!" of agreement.

With strategy settled the two teams leapt up into the trees and started heading east. Their pace wasn't as fast as Team Tenten had managed alone; Poe was many things, but fast was not one of them. The puppeteer had the disadvantages of short legs, a stocky frame and a puppet on his back that weighed almost as much as he did. Still, they were well rested, fully supplied and carrying enough food to see them to the end of the Second Round. By lunchtime the forest thinned out and gave way to the rising, winding passes that would carry them up into the mountains.

Kaede kept her kikai bugs out scouting ahead of them, but her range was limited by the cold air; she could only keep any given swarm of seekers out for a short period before they needed to return to the warmth of the hive in her body. They climbed higher into the passes as the sun dipped in the sky.

As evening fell, Kaede's bugs found a good spot to rest, and they made their way to a mountain lake surrounded by snow-capped peaks. Sheltered by the surrounding cliffs, a stand of hardy pine trees grew on the lake's only shore that wasn't up against sheer rock, a narrow beach of gray sand separating the trees from the water. In the trees the two teams set up camp, made a small fire to cook some food before extinguishing it and settling down for a cold camp.

They set watches, this time with Amaya and Poe taking first, Kaede and Rahl taking second and Sira and Ken taking third; away from the shelter they needed a sensor type awake at all times, so Amaya scanned the gloom with her sharingan, Kaede kept bugs patrols going, and Sira sat quietly, a wind jutsu carrying sound to her ears in the night.

* * *

By afternoon the following day the two teams had reached Peregrine Pass, and Amaya and Rahl were staring a very large problem in the face. Having crept up a rocky incline on hands and knees, they were cautiously peering over the lip or the ridge at Peregrine Pass, a kilometer ahead. Rahl needed a small brass spyglass to see that far, but Amaya's sharingan showed her the issue at hand in depressing clarity. Twelve Cloud genin, all four teams, were waiting in the pass. Amaya's bugs had noticed people in the pass long before they reached it and a bit of scouting had revealed an ambush that a team without a sensor wouldn't have noticed.

The Kumogakure teams had set up a camp with one team in the open as bait, but after observing for a few hours Amaya could see that all four teams from the Cloud village were in the area. "C'mon, let's go talk to the others," Amaya whispered. Rahl nodded, and they carefully retreated down the pass where the rest of their teams were waiting.

After passing on the bad news, Amaya growled in frustration. "What a bunch of cowards," she seethed. "They must intend to eliminate everyone but themselves from the final round."

"How did they get ahead of us?" Kaede wondered. "The camp you describe sounds like one that's been there for days."

"I can guess," Ken volunteered. "This is their country; they're more used to the weather here. They all probably met up in the forest on the first day and travelled through the storm to get to the pass. They had to know none of the other village's teams would try to travel during the storm."

"It makes sense," Poe admitted. "They had to have planned this among themselves as soon as the First Round was over."

"There's got to be another way around," Amaya insisted, and they got out the maps ahead, while Kaede took advantage of the sunny day to send bugs further afield.

"I don't see a good way to do it," Sira admitted after a few minutes of silence. "Sure, we could try to climb over one of the peaks, but there's no cover up there and the Cloud genin have to have scouts out. They'd see us and hit us from behind. This is their home turf."

"With two-to-one odds we can't attack them; we might be able to take them, but even if we won the chances of us all still being in one piece are remote," Rahl admitted. "There's only one solution I can think of. We backtrack half a day or so, outside of the range of any patrols the Cloud genin have going, and wait for one or two other teams to come up the pass. Then we convince them to ally with us long enough to attack the Cloud genin head on. Even if they don't like or trust us, those Cloud cowards are trying to screw everyone over."

None of them could think of a better plan, so they headed down the pass, splitting up to cover different approaches but staying within range of reinforcing each other.

"Even if there was a total battle royale down in the forest there should be at least one more team coming," Ken observed.

"Unless the dust settled and none of the teams had three members left standing," Amaya reminded him.

"It is possible," Kaede agreed. "I propose that if we see no one by tomorrow night we go back down to the forest and try to find some plaques, then come back to Peregrine Pass and see what the Cloud genin do. They'll probably turn on each other if no one shows up to their trap, and then we can bypass whoever's left standing."

Team Tenten got back to the lake where they had camped the night before a little ways ahead of Team Sand Crab. When they got into sight of the stand of pines, Amaya's eyes narrowed. Something was different. Activating her sharingan confirmed that someone had investigated their campsite while they were gone. Amaya signaled to her teammates; Ken readied himself to fight, and more of Kaede's bugs appeared from her coat, spreading out in the fading evening light. Amaya was sweeping her sharingan over the lake when she saw it; several spots where the ice had been melted and reformed close to shore. A glance at Kaede told her that the Aburame girl had seen it too. "It has to be a Mist team," Amaya whispered. "Send some bugs to spell out a message for the Sand Crabs to stay out of sight until nightfall and then sneak in close to us."

With that done they stayed alert while setting up camp as though they hadn't a care in the world, all the while with an itching between their shoulder blades, listening for the whistle of kunai or shuriken coming out of the dark. But the ambush didn't come, and Amaya realized that whoever was out there was waiting for them to go to sleep. After exchanging a knowing look and a few quiet instructions they did so, putting out the fire and crawling into their bedrolls before utilizing a substitution jutsu to relocate themselves up into the trees, leaving logs in their place.

They didn't have to wait long after that. A ground-hugging fog formed over the lake and quickly moved inland, sweeping over the campsite in a matter of moments. High up enough that the mist was thinner, Amaya could see dark shapes rising out of the half-frozen lake and dart up the beach into their camp. In the low light even Amaya couldn't see more than outlines of their attackers, two male silhouettes, one average sized, the other tall and bulky, accompanied by a petite kunoichi.

The biggest of the three attackers had a two-handed broadsword in his grip and sent the blade plunging down into Amaya's bedroll. She let the tip sink into the log that had replaced her before dropping down from her leafy perch right on top of him with a kunai in each hand. Her weight landing on his back dropped him to his knees, and Amaya sank her right kunai deep into the bulging muscle of his shoulder while whipping the left one around his neck to press against his throat. "Move and die, asshole" she growled in his ear.

A heartbeat later Kaede's bedroll exploded when a tagged kunai thrown by the other Mist genin hit it, but Kaede retaliated by dropping a bug bomb on him. He gave out a panicked yell as kikai bugs swarmed over him. Ken's bedding was perforated by half a dozen senbon before he surprised the kunoichi who had thrown them, wrenching her arm behind her back and wrapping his around her neck. "Hold still and I won't have to break your arm," he said to the smaller girl struggling in his grasp.

"Nice try with the ambush," Amaya said. "Now surrender."

"Why would we do that? You're not going to _hurt_ me, are you?" Amaya frowned as the Mist kunoichi spoke, her voice pure, sweet and honeyed. Amaya wondered what the little minx was up to until she saw Ken's eyes glaze over. Her teammate let go of his captive, who darted towards Kaede. The bug-nin was crouched over her target with a kunai to his throat, her bugs crawling over him as he whimpered.

Realizing the Mist girl had put her teammate under a genjutsu, Amaya pulsed her chakra, clearing her own system and angling it to hit Ken as well who blinked, looking around in dismay. Kaede had to leap away from her captive to avoid a new spray of senbon from the freed Mist kunoichi. Amaya also paid for her moment of inattention freeing Ken when her assailant batted her kunai away from his throat and then swung his elbow back, smashing it into Amaya's face and sending her staggering back.

"Not done yet you Leaf pissants," Amaya's brute of an opponent growled, tugging her kunai from his shoulder and tossing it aside before advancing on her with his broadsword. Meanwhile, the Mist kunoichi ran through a few hand signs and sent a wave of water condensed from the air over her downed teammate, washing away Kaede's bugs and allowing him to scramble to his feet, panting from chakra exhaustion but still very much in the game, anger burning in his eyes as he pulled with looked like some grenades from his pouch and hurled them at Kaede's hiding spot behind a tree where she was pinned by a hail of senbon from the kunoichi.

"No!" Ken was charging them, but wouldn't make it in time to protect Kaede.

At the last second a blast of wind roared through the thicket, reversing the course of the grenades and forcing the Mist genin to scramble to avoid their own projectiles. The flash from the explosion revealed that Sira had joined Kaede, and the Sand kunoichi pressed the offensive, razor-edged fans whirling as she closed in on the explosives expert. Before the Mist kunoichi could renew her attacks, a clattering puppet with a barrel-shaped body leapt on her from behind and her scream was cut off as its chest cavity enveloped her before sliding closed.

Amaya dodged two whistling sword slashes from her opponent, and as he wound up for a third Rahl shot out of the darkness, delivering a vicious spinning kick to the swordsman's head that knocked him into a tree. Before he could recover Rahl was on him, one hand around the Mist genin's neck, the other forming a glowing red scorch orb inches from his face. "Surrender or your own mothers won't recognize what's left of you," Rahl grated.

Grimacing, the swordsman glanced to the side. Thumps and curses could be heard from the kunoichi trapped in Poe's puppet, and the genin with the bombs was trapped in Ken's arm lock while Kaede and Sira stripped him of his gear.

"Two teams; clever," Rahl's captive admitted with a grimace. "Fine, we surrender." Slowly reaching into his pouch he produced a yellow Thunder plaque. Then his eyes widened in shock as Rahl picked up his sword instead of the plaque, tossing it to Amaya before letting him up.

"Actually, we have a proposal for you," Amaya said as the Mist genin watched them cautiously. "How'd you like to stay in the Exam?"

* * *

Once the Mist team was disarmed all three teams sat down to talk. In the light once they got a fire going again, the slippery Mist kunoichi was revealed to be a short, slender blonde with hard gray eyes named Senne. She kept her long hair up in a bun on her head, and wore a short, pale blue kimono and silk pants and sandals. She was annoyed to be confined to the inside of Black Ant's belly with only a small window to look out of, but neither Amaya or Rahl felt like taking chances with her genjutsu, so she remained inside the puppet Poe had captured her with.

The explosives guru was a lanky boy with black hair, dark eyes and a nervous twitch under his left eye was named Lorn. He wore a baggy jumpsuit covered with pockets and two bandoliers across his chest. Pockets and bandoliers alike had been full of explosives, and he had not stopped pouting since Kaede and Sira had taken away his disturbingly large stockpile of grenades, explosive tags and even shaped charges that he assured them could bring down a mountainside.

The leader of the Mist team was the tall, muscular genin Amaya had fought. He wore an armored chest plate over his long-sleeved shirt, and his pants had armor over the thighs. His name was Hoshigaki Kokai, and in good light both Amaya and Rahl's teams couldn't help staring, because besides being a few years older than the others and considerable taller and broader at the shoulders, he was also _blue_. His skin was the shade of fish scales, his eyes were beady and slightly shrunken in his head, and he had slits on his cheeks like gills. He explained his outlandish appearance as a trait of his clan.

"So the Cloud genin are working together to knock everyone else out of the tournament and you want to form a temporary alliance to take them out?" Kokai looked thoughtful and then shrugged. "Sure, works for me. You guys had us dead to rights, so we'll fight with you. Should be enough plaques for all of us if we win. We certainly don't want to go home before the final round." Lorn and Senne both expressed vigorous agreement.

With the agreement struck, Poe warily let Senne out of Black Crow, getting some dirty looks from the kunoichi over her stained, smudged kimono. "Do you ever _clean_ the inside of that thing?" she muttered. Lorn was happy as a pig in mud when he got his explosives back, although he looked like Kokai had kicked his puppy when the blue-skinned team leader forbade him from blowing anything up until they were ready to fight the Cloud ninja.

"The next question is do we wait for more teams to come up the pass?" Rahl said when he, Amaya and Kokai sat around the fire on first watch, the others having turned in.

Kokai shook his head, a grave look on his face. "We should attack with what we have as soon as possible. I don't know how many others are left, but I do know that there's a team from Iwagakure one day behind us that we don't want to fight, and they won't work with us."

Amaya and Rahl blinked. "They'd attack us with three to one odds against them?" Rahl asked in disbelief.

"Probably," Kokai said. "We've been spying on them from a distance since day one. They're really good, their leader is older than any of the other genin, even me and I'm sixteen. They're also on a warpath. We watched them take out both of the other teams from our village at the same time, and they've also eliminated the other team from their own village."

Amaya's jaw dropped. "You're kidding."

Kokai shook his head grimly. "Their leader is a taijutsu and earth ninjutsu specialist named Grun. He's half a head taller than me, probably twenty-five kilos heavier, and he's got to be at least eighteen." Amaya and Rahl just looked at each other. Kokai was six feet tall and covered in muscle. "I figure he's a ringer, sent to make sure one of his teammates makes it to the final round. No way he's a genin; he fights better than most chuunin I've seen. He's got decent backup, too. One is named Fel and he's really good with ranged earth ninjutsu. You might have felt the area shake from one of that guy's jutsus. The third member of the squad's a medic ninja, his name's Chen. When they fought the other Kirigakure teams Grun just waded in; he didn't care if he got hit, he was still standing at the end and his buddy patched him up."

Kokai looked at Amaya and Rahl seriously. "You guys are good, but without lightning ninjutsu to counter their earth-based abilities the chances of beating them before Grun takes someone down is remote, and they attacked their own village's other team, so I doubt they'll ally with us."

"All right," Amaya accepted with a sigh. "Then we should leave here in the morning and plan to attack the Cloud camp in Peregrine Pass tomorrow night. Agreed?" Rahl and Kokai nodded in acceptance. They spent the rest of their watch planning strategy, knowing that it would be the largest and highest-stake battle of their lives.

* * *

Hidden in the canopy of a particular pine tree, Udon spied on Amaya's camp with frustration. Resisting the urge to sniffle, he wiped his perpetually runny nose on a rag from his pocket. At fifteen Udon had lost most of the baby fat that had given him such a round face when he first became a genin. He was still skinny, but taller, his frame flexible and leanly muscled. Under Ebisu's tutelage he had become an accomplished sensor and was stealthy enough that he was rarely seen unless he wanted to be. His aim with shuriken and kunai at medium to long range had improved as well, so in addition to spotting threats he was the team's sniper.

Around him Udon could sense Kaede's bugs; tiny flickers of chakra moving in small clouds. They didn't come near his tree though, and he allowed himself a hard smile of satisfaction. Kaede may have embarrassed him in Konohagakure by spotting him when he spied on her team after the selection of teams for the Chuunin Exams, but he'd applied his intellect to the problem and found a solution. The tree he was hiding in was native to the Land of Lightning, and protected itself from pests by leaking a sap that had insecticidal properties and a scent that kept the bugs far away. Udon had a small jar of the sap in his pouch, and painting a bit of it on himself rendered him almost invisible to Kaede's kikai bugs as long as he wasn't walking in the open when they flew by.

Konohamaru wasn't going to be happy about Amaya sitting there with _two_ allied teams, Udon reflected glumly. The Sarutobi heir had been looking forward to facing Amaya's team and taking them out, but despite searching diligently Udon hadn't been able to track down Team Tenten in the forest. He had found their camp earlier in the day and had been in the process of tracking them when they doubled back and he barely avoided them, realizing with dismay that Amaya had somehow teamed up with the Sand genin. A foray further up the pass had revealed the reason for their caution; there were four Cloud teams blocking the only way to the final round's arena.

* * *

Konohamaru had been livid at Udon's report earlier that evening when he returned to the hidden cave in the passes that they'd camped in. "Of course those bitches and that coward Ken would turn to another village's genin for protection."

"Konohamaru, there are four Cloud teams blocking the pass. Amaya probably intends to find enough allies among whoever's left to deal with them. Shouldn't we work with her, at least to get rid of the Cloud genin? We'd be guaranteed a second plaque."

Udon wasn't much of a fighter at close range and he knew it. Konohamaru was the muscle of their squad. His speed, prodigious chakra reserves as a Sarutobi and training with elite tutors and Konohagakure's jinchuuriki made him a dangerous opponent. So when Udon saw the sudden rage in Konohamaru's eyes directed at him he didn't bother trying to dodge the punch; he just turned with it to reduce the momentum. Konohamaru's fist impacted his cheek with a 'crack' and laid him out on the ground. Moegi winced and stepped up to Konohamaru's side, placing a restraining hand on his arm.

Touching his cheek gingerly to make sure it wasn't broken, Udon glanced at Moegi, saw the sadness in her eyes and looked away. His female teammate had matured as dramatically as he had since their team was formed. Moegi had abandoned the long pigtails that stood up at an angle after almost losing her head in a fight with a missing-nin who got ahold of them. Her hair was still long, falling almost to her waist, but it was caught up into a single thick braid now. Her frame was no longer coltish, having matured in the last few years although like most kunoichi she used breast bindings to keep them out of the way.

In combat Moegi had blossomed into a fire ninjutsu specialist with a strong grounding in genjutsu. She didn't have Konohamaru's prodigious chakra reserves, but she had better control over what she possessed, and the intelligence to user her repertoire of techniques to deadly effect.

"Udon, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you suggest we work with those upstarts," Konohamaru said, his voice low and threatening as he loomed over his teammate. "If I did, I'd have to beat your ass, and since the proctors say we need all three team members to enter the final round, I need you ambulatory. So here's what's going to happen; you're going to keep an eye on Amaya and her team, and when they move to attack the Cloud genin we're going to follow them and take out whoever's left standing. I'd like to see their faces when we turn in eight plaques!"

To Udon that sounded like a terrible idea born from Konohamaru's oversized ego; they only needed two plaques to move on, and he was fairly certain Amaya's team would put aside their dislike for the sake of expediency if approached. But when he glanced at Moegi, she gave him a minute shake of the head, and he ground his teeth, staying silent. Once Konohamaru decided on something neither of them was going to convince him otherwise.

"Moegi, let's turn in for the night," Konohamaru said, directing the closest thing he had to a fond smile at the orange-haired kunoichi before heading for the tent he shared with her. Udon and Moegi's gaze met again, and this time it was Moegi who looked away with shame in her eyes and shuddered. Udon's hand clenched into a fist before relaxing helplessly; in this too, there was little he could do. Moegi reluctantly followed Konohamaru into the tent, and Udon turned and left with guilty relief. He'd rather spend a cold night spying on Amaya than a warm one in that cave listening to the things that Konohamaru had started making Moegi do with him recently.

* * *

_Author's Note: As with all the imported canon characters, Team Ebisu's about three years older than they are at the beginning of Shippuden in canon, but yeah. Konohamaru's still a creep. Teensy bit of fighting this time, new allies and old enemies._


	12. Battle of Peregrine Pass

Chapter 12: Battle of Peregrine Pass

* * *

_Second Round of the Chuunin Exam_

At dawn, the three genin squads from Leaf, Mist and Sand left their camp in the pine thicket by the mountain lake and began their journey up the pass to confront the dozen Cloud genin who stood between them and the Final Round of the Chuunin Exams.

Cognizant of Kokai's warning about the dangerous team from Iwagakure making the ascent somewhere behind them, Sira and Rahl dropped back to scout behind them while Kaede sent swarms of kikai bugs ahead of them and Senne, the Mist team's kunoichi, also moved up the pass to spy on the Cloud positions.

Rahl and Sira returned first, reporting that their backs were clear for at least half a day behind them; Both Sand genin were capable of using wind chakra to enhance their speed, a trick the Rock genin wouldn't be able to duplicate. Shortly after noon when they were getting close to Peregrine Pass, Senne came running back as well, a look of urgency on her face.

"We have to attack now," Senne panted, catching her breath.

"What's happened?" Kokai demanded of his teammate. Their plan had been to wait for nightfall, fill the pass with mist and attack with stealth to counteract the Cloud genin's superior numbers and dangerous ranged lightning ninjutsu.

"When I started spying on their positions this morning all four Cloud teams were there, but they're starting to get antsy because no one's walked into their trap yet. One of their teams just left the pass and headed further up into the mountains; they're probably looking to make sure no one snuck past them. If we hit them now it's even numbers."

Amaya, Rahl and Kokai conferred briefly. "We could go with Plan B," Rahl suggested.

Amaya grimaced. "It's Plan B for a reason, Rahl. If your trick doesn't work we'll all be sitting ducks, and if we attack in daylight Lorn can't plant his explosives."

Kokai scratched his chin in thought. "Our goal here is to take them out with zero casualties, right? Why don't we go with what Lorn and Poe suggested last night? It wouldn't have worked well against twelve, but with nine against us it's doable."

Rahl winced. "That plan also relies on a difficult combination of jutsus that we haven't practiced with. Hell, we didn't even know each other until yesterday. Can you three pull it off? It all comes down to that, and if it doesn't work we're in a worse position than we'd be in just rushing them." 'Just rushing them' was essentially Plan B.

Amaya, Sira and Senne, the three Rahl had questioned, looked at each other. Amaya knew Sira well enough to trust the wind user, but Senne was a total unknown to both of them, and while her skill had been on display the previous evening, the technique they were contemplating would require a level of cooperation and coordination that would challenge even genin who _had_ trained together.

Senne looked back at Amaya and Sira with hard gray eyes that held little trust. Sunagakure and Kirigakure were so far apart that they had essentially no relations, but Leaf and Mist had a long and acrimonious history prior to the rise of the Yondaime Hokage. "I can hold up my end," the Mist kunoichi said defiantly. "As long as you two don't screw it up, it'll work fine."

Amaya snorted before nodding at Sira. "We're going to be chuunin, and chuunin need to be able to work with shinobi they don't know. Let's do it."

* * *

It was a cool crisp day and the afternoon sun shone down on Peregrine Pass. Three teams of Cloud genin occupied the pass, keeping an eye out in all directions. They were wary and alert, so when a fast-moving cloud of fog came boiling up the pass, they knew what it was and were ready. "Mist ninja incoming!" the lookouts yelled, and the Cloud genin sprang into action. each squad moving back-to-back as the mist covered them, the three teams placing themselves at points of a triangle to cover all approaches through the pass while remaining close enough to each other to stay in sight. Then the two genin among them with a wind affinity exerted their chakra to start moving the mountain air through the pass. Close to water it would have been difficult, but in the high mountain pass wind trumped water and the fog was shredded by a stiff breeze.

When the fog dissipated however, there weren't nine ninja in the pass anymore; there were twelve. Standing in the middle of the three squads of Cloud genin was a trio of kunoichi mimicking the squad formation of the Cloud genin with one facing each squad. All three wore Kirigakure headbands, had their hair in identical buns held up with senbon, and all three wore black half-masks covering their noses and mouths, as well as similar cut-off kimonos and pants in shades of blue. One was blonde, one brunette, and the third had black hair.

When Senne had produced a storage scroll full of spare outfits, Kaede had coughed and muttered something that sounded like 'clotheshorse', but Amaya had to admit not having to wash clothes in streams on longer missions appealed to her, and had resolved to ask Tenten-sensei about getting a scroll like that herself.

The nine Cloud genin quickly encircled the three Mist kunoichi, weapons drawn and ready, while the hands of the Mist kunoichi remained empty. "You girls surrendering? Fine by us; just hand over your plaque," one of the Cloud genin, a lean, muscular boy with a drawn katana held horizontal to the ground at eye level, on the balls of his feet in a swordsman's stance, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"Oh sweetheart, we can do better than that," Senne replied, her voice a smooth purr. Noting that all nine Cloud genin were male, she added, "If you boys let us pass we'll give you three plaques."

Sword boy raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure, we'll take that deal. Or we would if you actually had three-" then his jaw dropped as Sira silently took a pouch from her belt and opened it, revealing two thunder plaques and a lightning plaque. She carelessly tossed it to a different Cloud genin in front of her, who lowered his kunai to catch it from the air, staring at the Mist kunoichi with wide eyes.

Amaya shrugged. "We've taken out four teams already, and we don't really need all those. Help yourselves." Then the three Mist kunoichi moved as one, walking calmly away from the stunned genin holding the plaques, towards the opposite end of the pass that opened out into the mountains.

Before they left the circle, however, crossed blades barred their path. "Sorry ladies, I lied," their leader admitted. "We're actually going to need all of your plaques."

Amaya gave him a long, even look as he smirked at her, before she tugged down her mask and gave him a sweet smile. "That's okay; I lied too. Those aren't real plaques." Then just for fun she activated her sharingan and let the Cloud genin realize how screwed he was before she let her genjutsu unravel, and felt Senne and Sira, hiding in the rocks nearby, release their own genjutsu.

Several things happened at once. The hapless Cloud genin holding the 'plaques' watched them turn into a ball of explosive tags wrapped around a trigger as Amaya's genjutsu faded. Then Lorn detonated them remotely. At the same time, the images of the blonde and brunette 'Mist kunoichi' wavered and warped, revealing Kokai and Rahl in their places, the former with broadsword in hand and the latter with glowing orbs of red death ready and waiting. Both men appeared at first to be wearing black shirts, until the blackness _moved_ and exploded outwards in a vicious cloud of kikai bugs.

The explosion of the fake plaques took out the genin holding them; he landed twenty meters away with ruined hands and burns all over the front of his body. The shockwave from the blast floored the genin to his left and right, leaving six on their feet. The nominal leader, the swordsman closest to Amaya, barely hesitated before slashing at her with a snarl, but she dodged his blade, jumping back to give herself room. Kaede's kikai bugs made a beeline from Rahl and Kokai to another luckless genin. They swarmed over him, biting and draining chakra as he flailed ineffectually.

Grinning broadly enough to reveal his pointed shark teeth, Kokai engaged another pair of katana-wielding genin, meeting their smaller blades with his massive one. Rahl lunged at the last two genin and unleashed his scorch orbs. One dodged in time to escape with little more than a burn on his shoulder, but the other wasn't so lucky. The scorch orb hit him in the side and exploded. A cloud of steam rose from the Cloud genin's body and he fell, screaming. Amaya winced, seeing when the steam cleared that his arm and leg on that side of his body were shriveled and wasted like the limbs of a desiccated corpse.

Amaya dodged two more swings from her enraged opponent before her sharingan had recorded enough of his style to predict his next move. Drawing a pair of kunai she slid around the downward slash he directed at her, getting a kunai behind his blade and adding momentum so that the tip of the blade hit the ground. Before he could recover she planted one foot on the back of his blade, brought both kunai down to sink into the meat of his shoulders, and used those points as a springboard to leap over his head and plant a kick in the back of his skull, sending him sprawling to the ground bleeding and senseless.

Landing and looking around, Amaya noted that Rahl had his trench knives out and was dueling with a Cloud genin fighting with a pair of hand axes, of all things. Kokai, who was fighting one-handed to avoid exacerbating the wound in his other shoulder Amaya had given him, was being driven back by his two opponents. One of them got past his guard and sliced into his thigh, driving him to one knee, but before either of them could capitalize, one was hit from behind by a wind jutsu that pounded him to the ground and had half a dozen senbon sprouting from his back before he could get up, as the real Senne and Sira joined the fight. The other genin attacking Kokai retreated, eyeing the new ninja emerging from the rocks with dismay.

The fight looked to be all but over when two more things happened very quickly. The first was Ken's shout of "Reinforcements!" as the last team of Cloud genin charged into the pass, all three older than their routed peers. The second thing was that the three allied teams were attacked from behind. Rahl staggered forward as three shuriken hit him in the back, almost losing his head to his axe-wielding opponent before Black Ant landed on that Cloud genin. At the same time Kaede, Sira and Senne, who had been securing their prisoners, were forced to flee as a hail of small fireballs peppered their position. Amaya had no time to worry about them however, as a very familiar whistling noise coming from close by alerted her to problems of her own. As she turned, she saw Konohamaru leap from behind a boulder straight at her, a swirling ball of bluish-white light in his hand.

Peripherally Amaya was aware of Moegi flashing through the hand signs of another fire jutsu aimed at her friends, and what had to be Udon hurling well-aimed projectiles from the shadows at Kokai, who was struggling to deflect them and rise to his feet. But before she could deal with any of that, she had to survive Konohamaru. Pushing her body to the limit she managed to duck under the Rasengan, feeling it shred some of her hair in passing, but she couldn't avoid Konohamaru's follow up kick, and took his steel toed boot in the side, feeling a rib crack as her body was knocked sideways. Rolling to her feet and ignoring the pain in her side, she drew another kunai and then Konohamaru was on her, the Rasengan still firmly in his hand, a kunai in a reverse grip in his offhand.

Even with the sharingan, Amaya found herself on full defense, pressed just to avoid being hit by the devastating jutsu the Sarutobi heir had learned from his mentor, Namikaze Naruto. Amaya was forcibly reminded that Konohamaru usually got away with being an ass to everyone because he really was almost as skilled a fighter as he imagined himself to be.

"Tell me, Konohamaru, how many times did you have to bend over for Namikaze before he taught you that technique?" Amaya taunted him. Konohamaru let loose a snarl of inarticulate rage, and Amaya almost paid for that comment with her life when he kicked her legs out from under her and lunged down to drive the Rasengan through her chest as she fell, but she managed to get her legs under him, plant her feet in his stomach and launch him up and over her, though she earned a cut on her leg from his kunai for her trouble.

"Touchy, touchy," she chided him as she rolled to her feet, favoring the cut leg. "Must have been at least a dozen times, then. How sore were you afterwards?"

"Uchiha bitch, I'll kill you!" Konohamaru screamed, releasing the Rasengan and making hand signs. Spotting the pattern, Amaya fought off a grin, forming a jutsu of her own. Konohamaru's biggest weakness had always been his temper; get him mad enough and he stopped thinking tactically and just tried to bulldoze his opponents. His chest swelled with air as he completed his jutsu and then exhaled, expelling a rapidly expanding cloud of gray powder.

Before it reached her, Amaya finished her jutsu and spat a fireball into the cloud. It would have been a waste of chakra to produce a full-sized fireball, so Amaya just fired off a little one, but it did its work, and Amaya grinned at Konohamaru's startled yell as his cloud of chakra-laced gunpowder exploded in his face. "Didn't your uncle tell you never to use that against someone with fire ninjutsu, moron?" When the smoke cleared, Amaya laughed at seeing him covered in ash, his eyebrows singed off. "Kami I wish I could take a picture of this," she said with glee.

Even from meters away the tick on Konohamaru's forehead was visible as he glared at her. "I'll beat that smirk off of your face! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he yelled, and in a puff of smoke there were five Konohamarus looking at her unpleasantly.

Amaya sighed. "Right, almost forgot about that one," she muttered to herself. It would have been easy enough to copy his hand signs with the sharingan, but she didn't have the older boy's chakra reserves; Amaya would drive herself to the edge of exhaustion making just a few shadow clones. "Bring it on then, whenever you're ready. I know being Naruto's peach bottom boy is hard work." With an indignant yell, five Konohamarus charged her, and she met his charge with the same technique Moegi had ambushed her teammates with. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" Amaya called, sending a shotgun blast of flaming orbs into the teeth of Konohamaru's charge, dispelling three of his clones. He managed to form another Rasengan with the last one before it dispelled, and then she was back to dodging his swings. _I really hope the others are having an easier time,_ she thought.

* * *

"We are not having an easy time here!" Sira yelled as she crouched behind a few boulders with Ken, Kaede and Senne. They were pinned down between two frustratingly skilled ranged specialists, with Moegi hurling fire ninjutsu at them from one side and one of the newly arrived Cloud genin, a dusky-skinned girl with bright red hair was tossing lightning bolts at them every time they stuck their heads up from cover. Senne had already fallen victim to the Cloud genin; hit in the back by an electric blast when she tried to fire a water jutsu at Moegi, she lay on the ground, her muscles seizing painfully while Kaede tried to help her. Having lost a number of kikai bugs to the pair of alert ranged specialists pinning them down Kaede had admitted defeat in trying to counterattack, reminded ruefully of her sensei's prophetic warnings about the limits of her clan's insects.

"I could deal with the lightning bitch if someone distracted the fire specialist; I can't risk using my wind techniques as long as she's chucking fireballs at us; the explosion would kill us all."

"I suppose it's up to me then," Ken stated with a grin, glancing around a rock at Moegi's position before ducking back as orange flame splashed off of his cover.

Sira gave him a look of disbelief. "How are you going to get close enough to her?"

"Yosh! I will test the fires of my youth against hers!" Ken stated confidently, waiting for another fireball to wash over their cover before darting out and running full speed uphill, leaping from one rock to another. He narrowly dodged the next fireball, picking up speed, and from the corner of her eye Sira saw the Cloud genin aiming a lightning jutsu at Ken's back.

"Oh no you don't!" Sira retaliated with a wave of one of her fans, sending a blast of wind hurtling at her opponent, staggering her and making the lightning bolt fly wide.

Moegi was no fool. As soon as she saw Konohagakure's third Green Beast coming for her she abandoned the fireballs and started a different series of hand signs before clapping her hands together. "Katon: Shobonami!" _[Fire Wave]_

"Run, Ken!" Sira yelled as a wall of flames came roaring down the hill at the green-clad genin. Instead, Ken made some hand signs of his own before the flame wall hit him, and Sira recognized the first few, though she'd never seen a genin with access to _that_ technique. Shaking off her surprise, Sira jumped over the boulder she'd been using for cover and headed for the lightning specialist. After she batted a few lightning bolts away with wind techniques the red-haired Cloud kunoichi gave up and drew a tanto from a sheath on her back in time to block Sira's first strike with her battle fans.

Moegi's smirk turned to a look of disbelief as an odd shadow shot through the wall of fire unharmed, vanishing in a puff of smoke before she could see what it was and revealing Ken behind it, who landed just meters in front of her, his usual 'good-guy' grin replaced with deadly concentration. Knowing she didn't have time for another fire jutsu before he struck, Moegi lashed out with a different technique, wavering and fading from Ken's sight in an instant. "Genjutsu, Moegi?" Ken queried with disappointment. "Most unyouthful!"

"Whatever works," the orange haired girl's voice hissed from all around him. "What now, muscles?" Maneuvering behind Ken as he stood still, looking back and forth for her, Moegi quietly drew a kunai. She didn't want to kill her fellow Leaf genin, but in the Chuunin Exam it was _permissible_, and she did need to win this fight. Konohamaru put enough bruises on her skin when he was _happy_ with her; if he got knocked out of the exam early and felt she hadn't given her all, he would make sure she suffered. Moegi shuddered silently at the thought, and thrust her kunai at the base of Ken's skull.

Having moved behind Ken, Moegi didn't see the red-haired boy's gray eyes drift shut, or witness his lips silently form a single syllable. "Kai."

Moegi did feel the genjutsu break, but the kunai's razor tip was already speeding towards him. It never connected, though, as he ducked under it, his leg extending in a spin kick that swept Moegi's feet from under her. She fell, and Ken's fist rose to meet her, impacting her stomach just under her ribs. Her breath left her lungs in an explosive rush, and she fell to her knees, eyes wide with panic as she struggled to breathe. "How?" the word formed silently on her lips absent the air to speak, and Ken just shrugged.

"We all had to grow stronger for this exam," he answered quietly. Then his open hand flashed up and the edge struck the side of her neck. Moegi collapsed in his arms, unconscious, and he gently laid her in a cleft between some rocks where she'd be safe from any stray jutsus. That done, Ken rose to his feet and raced down the hill to help his comrades.

* * *

Elsewhere, Kokai, Rahl and Poe had their hands full as well. Kokai's surviving opponent from the original nine had been joined by an older Cloud genin with long white hair and dark skin who was not only a better swordsman but skilled enough with lightning ninjutsu to charge his blade with electricity. His backup was a pale-skinned teen with blond hair in a bowl cut, hard ice-blue eyes and a tanto that blurred when he fought. The axe fighter Poe had captured inside Black Ant wasn't out of the fight either, as the impact from his blades on the inside of the puppet's chest testified. Complicating matters further, all the combatants had to deal with an irritatingly accurate and sneaky sniper hiding among the rocks up the cliff face who kept hurling kunai and shuriken at anyone – Cloud, Mist or Sand – who stood still for too long.

"Soren! Thank goodness you came back!" The younger Cloud swordsman said to his older compatriot.

"Shut up and fight, idiot," Soren grated, taking another swing at Kokai, who had to stumble back, giving ground since he couldn't cross blades with the charged katana Soren wielded. On his next dodge Kokai slipped on the blood dripping from his leg wound and almost got hit before Rahl lunged in between him and Soren, catching the falling blade on one of his trench knives. Soren's lazy grin turned to a look of shock as Rahl remained unaffected by the electricity and kicked him in the stomach before he could recover, forcing him back.

"I'll deal with this lighting lover," Rahl called out. "You handle his friends," Kokai noted with concern the trails of blood running down Rahl's back from where the sniper's opening volley of shuriken had tagged him, but nodded and turned to face the blonde and the survivor from the initial ambush.

Knowing he couldn't fight two on one without his kendo moves Kokai took a two-handed grip on his broadsword, accepting the pain from his wounded shoulder as the hastily stitched wound tore open. "C'mon then, who's dying first?" he roared at the pair, flashing his shark teeth. It worked on the younger genin, but the icy blond just snorted and darted forward, his blade flashing as he sought an opening.

Rahl grinned at the irritated looking Soren as they dueled. He could tell the Cloud genin hadn't faced a trench knife fighter before, while he'd fought plenty of swordsmen. The faint red haze of Rahl's scorch aura surrounding his knives kept him safe from his opponent's electricity by heating the air between the weapons to prevent the charge from arcing. On the other hand, Rahl knew he needed to finish the fight soon, because he could feel the blood flowing down his back and the pain every time he moved, while Soren was fresh and uninjured.

Sparing a glance for Black Ant, Rahl saw the puppet's chest starting to splinter from inside. "Poe, what are you waiting for? Finish him!"

Poe, hiding behind a boulder while manipulating his puppet, looked uncertain. "Rahl, I-"

"That's an order, Poe! Kill the fucker before he gets free; we can't handle four of them!" Rahl growled.

Poe nodded in resignation and flexed his chakra strings. Black Ant's six arms, which had been struggling to contain the puppet's prisoner, flew out, a long, sharp blade sliding out of each hand. Then the arms inverted and pierced the puppet's barrel chest from six directions like a magician's trick, but with dire result. A scream from inside was abruptly cut off, and blood began pouring from the bottom of the puppet's barrel chest. Retching, Poe barely held his lunch down, looking away as his hands moved, prompting Black Ant to disgorge its bloody cargo onto the ground. Then the puppet's three yellow eyes turned towards the younger Cloud swordsman, who was staring at what was left of his teammate, looking pale and sick. When the puppet moved towards him, the teen screamed and ran, leaving the blond with the tanto to face Kokai alone.

"Tsch!" Soren spat with a look of disgust. "This is a rout. Mori, let's get out of here," he said to the blond, who nodded and danced out of Kokai's range. "Kari, we're leaving!" Soren bellowed at the red-haired teen who was dueling with Sira. Kari nodded, broke through Sira's guard to kick her in the stomach, and then turned to run. Sira, catching her breath, growled but let the Cloud genin flee.

Rahl and Kokai sagged with relief, then watched as Soren caught up with his fleeing fellow Cloud genin, knocked him over the head from behind and then stole his pouch before all three of them vanished over the hill.

Registering that no one had thrown a shuriken or kunai at him recently, Rahl looked up at the sniper's perch, and laughed when he saw Lorn, the twitchy Mist bomber, standing on the ledge. Hanging off of the cliff by a rope around his ankles was a brown-haired Leaf genin with glasses who was sweating and holding very still, a fact that probably had to do with the fact that there were several explosive tags adhered to his torso, and Lorn was holding a chakra detonator switch.

It was Kokai who noticed that Amaya was still fighting, with another genin from her village, of all things. "Shall we intervene?" the Mist genin enquired of his Sand compatriot.

Rahl was about to agree when he saw a green blur shooting down the hill towards Amaya and Konohamaru with a figure in tan close behind. "Nah, I think they've got it under control," he said with a grin before looking over the fallen Cloud genin around them. "Let's find their plaques."

* * *

Amaya had to give Konohamaru credit, he felt Ken coming and even ducked back from Amaya to direct a perfectly timed spinning kick at Ken that the taijutsu specialist had to block with crossed forearms, arresting his momentum. Of course, that didn't solve Konohamaru's main problem; he might be better than Amaya or Ken separately, but he wasn't better than both of them, and he knew it. He formed another batch of shadow clones, but Ken and Amaya tore them apart without much difficulty. "Moegi! Udon! Where the hell are you?" Konohamaru yelled.

"Moegi's sleeping," Ken answered calmly.

"I think Udon's been hung out to dry," Kaede added with amusement as she reached her teammates.

"Cowards," Konohamaru growled, eyeing the three of them and struggling conceal his dismay.

Amaya smirked at him. "That's rich coming from the guy who attacked us from behind while we were engaged with another opponent. Just face it, Konohamaru, you lost. Now come take your medicine."

With Team Tenten working together, Konohamaru didn't stand a chance.

After looting plaques and maps from the fallen Cloud genin, Team Sand Crab and the Mist genin watched with interest. "I'm sensing some personal history at work here," Kokai observed after a number of punishing blows to Konohamaru's face and ribs from Amaya and Ken. He was sitting on a rock while Senne, recovered from her dose of lightning, bandaged his wounds and chided him for aggravating his shoulder injury. "What was I supposed to do, woman," he shot back defensively, "let that guy Mori with the tanto make more holes in my blue hide? He was pretty fast, y'know."

Sira was patching up the wounds on Rahl's back when he twitched. "Did that hurt?" she asked with concern.

"No, but _that_ did," Rahl said with a chuckle, pointing at Konohamaru, who was on his knees and going cross-eyed while cradling the family jewels after Kaede had driven a knee into his groin. "She's not as strong as the other two, but that still has to hurt." He winced again as Amaya's boot met Konohamaru's nose in a spray of blood, laying the Sarutobi heir on the ground, out cold. "Yeah, shot to the nuts and making him a little less pretty for a while? I'll go with personal history," Rahl agreed with Kokai.

After taking Konohamaru's pouch, the Leaf genin rejoined their allies. "Moment of truth time," Amaya said. "What are the spoils?" opening Konohamaru's pouch she already knew she'd find a Lightning plaque. "This is the one we needed." Next she pulled out Team Ebisu's map. "Hey, here's the map to the arena, too."

Rahl and Kokai both held up a matching pair of plaques. "We're all set, then."

Amaya smiled in relief. "Great."

The three teams paused to survey the battlefield. Team Ebisu was all alive and intact. The toll on the Cloud genin was a bit more of a butcher's bill, however. Two of the Cloud genin were dead, the one holding Lorn's bomb, and the one Poe had skewered on Rahl's orders. Poe was busy cleaning out his Black Ant, and if his war paint seemed a bit streaky under the eyes when he was done, no one said anything.

Of the seven Cloud survivors, two were senseless and bleeding from the ears from the bomb's shockwave. Rahl's scorch attack had crippled another and Amaya's first opponent wouldn't be able to lift his arms for months. The one Sira and Senne had defeated was stable but not moving much with a back full of senbon. Soren had mugged one the genin who ran from Poe for his plaque, and the one Kaede's bugs had subdued was still conscious, just immobilized by chakra exhaustion.

With the battle rush faded, Amaya felt some guilt hit her. Two genin they'd faced were dead, and the one hit by the scorch orb was done as a ninja; medical chakra wouldn't fix his arm and leg; they'd have to be amputated before they started rotting.

"You… you killed them," a weak but accusing voice came from the genin Kaede's bugs had taken down.

Kokai was standing over him in two strides, picking up the helpless Cloud ninja by his shirt. "You idiots picked a terrible strategy and lost," he growled as his captive. "You were done as soon as one team spotted your ambush. Even strangers will band together against pricks like you trying to screw everyone. You want your next Chuunin Exam to go better? Forget this bullshit. The exams are a test of squad and individual skill, not who entered the most teams." Then Kokai dropped the younger teen with disgust. "Let's get out of here before those psychos from Iwagakure get up here."

Reminded of the team making the climb behind them, Amaya looked over their fallen opponents. "We can't leave them here."

Rahl shrugged, tossing a looted flare gun to the genin Kokai had lectured, who caught it weakly. "I'd suggest you use that and summon the proctors to get your friends to the hospital." The Cloud genin glared at Rahl but nodded reluctantly, raising a trembling hand and firing the crimson flare into the air. "Let's get moving so they don't think we're giving up too," Rahl said lightly, and the three teams headed up into the mountains. Behind them the proctors descended, collected the wounded and dead, and departed in just a few minutes.

The three teams made camp that night in a defensible cave in the mountains. They tended to Amaya, Rahl and Kokai's injuries with greater care and shared a hearty meal. Before bedding down, the nine genin sat around the fire and talked about the day. Lorn and Poe in particular seemed affected by the fight; they'd been responsible for the two fatalities. Amaya suspected that it was a first kill for both of them.

"I'm the one to blame Poe, not you," Rahl said firmly. "I ordered you to kill him; that blood is on my hands." Unlike Konohagakure, where genin teams decided among themselves to select a 'leader' or operate more democratically, the other villages did have a formal assignment of a genin who was nominally in charge when away from their jounin sensei. Rahl lead Team Sand Crab, and Kokai was in charge of his squad. "Likewise for you Lorn, I put the bomb in that guy's hands," Rahl said quietly.

"I cast the genjutsu that tricked him into taking it," Amaya added.

"Besides, we didn't choose that fight, they did," Kokai added firmly. "They made the choice to try and eliminate all of us from the tournament; not because they needed to, but because they wanted to stack the final round in their favor."

The twitchy bomber and the stocky puppeteer looked thoughtful and a bit less down after that. After setting watches and excusing Amaya, Rahl and Kokai from the rotation so they could heal, the teams turned in for the night.

* * *

The next morning they climbed up into the mountains, taking it easy. They still had ample time to get to the arena, and with Konohamaru's map, they knew where it was. They saw no sign of the surviving Cloud team ahead of them, or the Rock team behind them. They reached the spot marked on the map in the afternoon, and found an ordinary looking cave, but when they entered, a pair of proctors emerged from hidden alcoves. Both looked surprised to see three genin teams from three different villages enter together. "Present your plaques," they were commanded. Each team handed over their plaques and then they were allowed to proceed into the cave with guides leading the way. After walking through the tunnel for a few minutes the tunnel sloped upward in what they realized was a gradual spiral, winding up and up into the mountain they had entered. They walked for almost an hour before the tunnel straightened out and they saw light ahead. When they emerge it was onto a wide, curving walkway, and all three teams were stunned into silence as they took in the view.

The terrace they were on was roughly halfway up the inner slope of the massive caldera of a long-extinct volcano. Above them and to their left and right the caldera's walls stretched out, dwarfing them with the immensity of the place. All around they could see buildings hewn into the rock, and once they took in the scope they realized there was an entire city here, nestled in the caldera walls high above the clouds. Citizens of the Land of Lightning thronged around them and above and below them in the thousands.

Moving up to the railing, the genin could see the slope descending down below them. Hundreds of meters below the terraces of buildings tapered off, giving way to misty woodland. Most of the caldera's bottom was actually hidden from view by clouds, actual clouds, half a kilometer _below _them. It was disorienting to see.

What caught their attention most though was kilometers away, on the other side of the caldera. Eons earlier, that wall of rock had collapsed and fallen outward, turning the caldera's circle into a crescent, and opening a grand vista through which they could see half of the Land of Lightning stretching out until it blurred into the horizon.

"Magnificent," Ken was the first to speak, and Amaya was surprised to see a tear in his eye. "A most youthful place."

"Glad you approve, kid," one of their guides said with a chuckle. "Welcome to Sky City, home of the Chuunin Exam's Final Round. You've been assigned quarters, and your teachers have been informed that you've passed the second round; they should be here shortly. Once you're settled in, you're free to explore the city. The Second Round will end in a few more days, and the drawing of names for the Final Round matches are a week after that."

"Those trees down there… that is a cloud forest, isn't it?" Kaede asked. When their guide nodded, she looked at him. "Are we allowed to enter the forest during our time here?" she asked.

The proctor looked again at her, taking in the coat and Konohagakure hitai-ate. "Oh. You're an Aburame, aren't you?" He scratched his chin. "The cloud forest is the property of the Kutsuku Clan. You'd have to petition them to be allowed to go there, but for a visiting ninja competing in the Final Round, I can't imagine they'd refuse to show you around."

Deciding that the Kutsuku Clan sounded like a shinobi family, Amaya resolved that Kaede would _not_ be visiting them alone, and a glance at Ken showed her the same thought in his mind. Kaede was usually the most cautious of the three of them, but she was also an Aburame, and when it came to opportunities to study new bugs, Aburame tended to get a bit… reckless.

The moment of introspection was interrupted when the nine genin's attention was drawn away from the view by three massive spikes of killing intent around them, and they turned with hands going towards their weapons, only to stop in confusion as they discovered three female jounin arrayed around them, a bun-headed brunette from Konohagakure, a blonde with a quartet of pigtails from Sunagakure and a shark-toothed woman with long crimson hair and a Kirigakure hitai-ate. Each of the women was glaring daggers at the other two.

"You…" all three grated at once, hatred dripping from their voices, hands on their weapons.

"Tenten-sensei?" Amaya, Kaede and Ken asked their angry teacher in confusion, alarmed at the cold look they only saw in their sensei's eyes when she was getting ready to kill someone.

"Temari-sensei?" Rahl inquired of his team's blonde jounin-sensei, newly assigned to them six months earlier when their previous sensei retired. Sabaku no Temari, the Kazekage's older sister, was gripping the hilt of her massive war fan hard enough for her knuckles to go white, and the previously still air was starting to stir around them as Temari's elemental chakra flowed from her skin.

"Ringo-sensei?" Kokai greeted his team's volatile instructor cautiously. Usually when Ameyuri Ringo's flowing crimson hair was fluffing up with static and her hands were resting on the hilts of her legendary twin blades known as Kiba, people started dying.

Each of the three older kunoichi looked at their own teams, then the teams around them, and three jaws dropped at the fact that the nine genin had fallen into a defensive half circle with their backs to the railing by instinct as soon as they'd felt the killing intent.

"WHAT ARE YOU THREE DOING!" a trio of angry sensei yelled in unison at their students.

* * *

_Author's Note: Gee, I wonder what happened there. I bet there's a story behind it!_

_Credit is due to xkaiistarx, a dedicated reviewer, for throwing out a name that I decided to toss into the mix as the jounin sensei for Kokai's team._

_This chapter concludes the second round of the exams. Now, on to the finals! This is going to be fun._


	13. Tested Ties

**Chapter 13: Tested Ties**

* * *

_Author's Note: At a future date I may write an omake about the origin of Tenten, Temari and Ringo's distaste for each other. But for the moment we dive into the calm before the storm of the Chuunin Exam's Final Round._

* * *

_Sky City_

When Team Tenten, Team Sand Crab and Kokai's Team Ringo reconvened a few days later at a large table at the back of a family-run barbeque restaurant in the lower terraces of the city, the first question was inevitable.

"So, did any of you find out what the hell that was about?" Kokai asked once the waitress had taken their drink orders and left.

By 'that', Kokai was referring to the confrontation between their teachers that had almost devolved into a general melee before a half dozen Cloud ANBU had arrived on the scene and told all three jounin sensei to back down. The teams had gone their separate ways after that, but had agreed through messages to reconvene after giving their teachers the slip.

Amaya and Rahl exchanged a glance and then both of them formed air quotes with their fingers. "It's classified," they echoed each other in imitation of their teacher's voices.

Lorn shrugged. "That's more than we got. Ringo-sensei didn't calm down for a while, and she said that it was none of our business and that if we asked her about it again she'd call down lightning on all of our heads."

After the waitress returned with their drinks and took their lunch order they made small talk, sharing impressions of the incredible city above the clouds that the Land of Lightning had created. There was a tension in the air that was palpable, one that had been missing out on the testing ground, and Poe was the first to address the issue.

"We all got the same lecture, didn't we?" the quiet puppeteer asked, and an awkward silence fell over the table.

"How could you let an Uchiha get close to you? She just wants to steal your techniques!" Senne said in a decent imitation of Ringo's voice, looking at Amaya apologetically.

"Temari-sensei had a lot to say about how the Hidden Leaf looks down on Sunagakure," Rahl said quietly. "I think at one point she intimated that Amaya, Kaede or Senne would try to seduce me in an attempt to steal the Scorch Release." Ken laughed, but then cringed under the silent fury of his female teammates' gaze.

"Tenten-sensei is most wise and youthful, but she does not know any of you as we do," Ken said thoughtfully. "She cautioned us that your senseis were untrustworthy, but I do not believe that whatever events in the past made her distrustful must be repeated with us."

"Yeah… we could feel the static in the air when Ringo-sensei talked about your teachers. She hates them. Why, I don't know," Kokai admitted. "She got really upset when she said I should have put a knife in Rahl's back while his guard was down, and I told her I'd just got done covering it."

"Temari-sensei made me spend hours checking over Black Ant that night; she seemed certain one of you would have sabotaged him when I wasn't looking," Poe offered.

"Until our sensei give us an explanation for their enmity, I see no reason for their hatred to become our own," Kaede said, and slow nods spread around the table.

"Our sensei was right about one thing, though, and yours probably said the same thing," Amaya cautioned. "We were allies last week, but we will be adversaries a week from today. Our villages will be expecting us to go all out, and frankly I think we all expect that of ourselves. It's a certainty we'll be pitted against each other, and none of us should make any promises now. But I'd like to hope that when the Final Round is over, we'll still… understand each other." Amaya had wanted to say 'we'll still be friends', but she didn't know if that was fair to suggest.

Quiet agreement came from the other genin at the table, and then the waitress brought the meat and vegetables for them to grill in the center of the table. As they started dropping sizzling meat on the hot metal, Kokai raised his glass. "How about a toast to one promise we can try to keep: when the first set of matches is over, that we'll be the only ones in it. To hell with Cloud, and to hell with Rock."

The rest raised their drinks and toasted that. "To hell with Cloud and Rock," they echoed, and if other patrons of the restaurant gave them some dirty looks over that toast, no one was willing to pick a fight with nine ninja over it.

After that they discussed the other two teams that had made it to the final round. The Cloud team of Soren, Mori and Kari studied under a jounin named Omoi who looked enough like Soren that Rahl thought they were related, and no one argued the point. All three were sixteen, and going into the exam had been the heavy favorites among their own village to reach the Final Round. Given that their fellow genin had already lost to foreign teams, no one seemed to begrudge them taking their second plaque from their compatriots.

But the biggest source of gossip in Sky City was the Iwagakure team lead by Grun, who had handed over five plaques on reaching the entry cave, four of them covered in dried blood. At eighteen Grun was the oldest genin in the Exam, and his companions Fel and Chen were fifteen, but it turned out Grun wasn't a ringer. Kaede had overheard a private conversation between some merchants from the Land of Earth who were betting on the Final Round.

"Apparently Grun is even worse than Kokai made him sound. The people betting on him were talking about how he's a total sociopath and his whole village knows it. The only reason he's still a genin is that his first jounin sensei saw what a monster he was and denied the team entry into the exams five times. Then last year that jounin dies under mysterious circumstances, and the new sensei enters them this year," Kaede told them grimly.

"So he killed his jounin sensei," Kokai concluded.

"There was no proof, but everyone from his village believes it," Kaede confirmed.

"We've heard similar things listening to the exam proctors," Lorn added. "Grun and his team killed three genin from our village, two from his own, and apparently tore up one of the Leaf teams pretty badly. The body count would have been higher if the proctors hadn't stepped in a few times to rescue his opponents once they were beaten."

Amaya and Ken exchanged a glance. "The body count was higher," Amaya said grimly. "Grun's team killed two ninken and put all three of that team's genin in the hospital. Ninken are intelligent; some of them even learn to talk. Losing a ninken is worse than losing a limb to an Inuzuka." The Inuzuka boys had never been friends to Team Tenten; they were closer to enemies. But the loss was still staggering, and Genma hadn't left the hospital since his students were admitted.

They moved onto lighter topics after that, finishing lunch and taking leave of one another to return to training for the Final Round.

* * *

_One Week Later_

The arena where the Final Round of the Chuunin Exam was held was as breathtaking as the rest of the host city. It hadn't been visible on the day the Leaf, Sand and Mist teams arrived due to cloud cover in the caldera, but on the opening day of the Final Round the clouds were thin and low, and the arena was visible.

A kilometer into the cloud forest, a perfectly round plateau of gray stone precisely two kilometers in diameter and half a kilometer tall rose from the trees to pierce the clouds. It was reached by a long bridge of the same gray stone that stretched from the lowest terrace of Sky City out to the entrance of the arena built on the plateau.

Stadium seating formed a ring around the arena floor, which was composed of a microcosm of the cloud forest below. A spring bubbled up from an aquifer deep beneath the plateau and fed a small pond close to the center of the arena, which in turn fed a stream that flowed to the arena's edge and then under the stands, forming a waterfall at the plateau's edge. Next to the pond was a ring of flat, hardened clay where the matches would begin. Mature trees from the forest below filled half the arena with a small forest, and the other half was a rocky field.

The plateau was defiantly perfect in its dimensions, and plainly not a natural formation. The first Raikage had commissioned its creation as a gift to Sky City on its founding, and had hired teams of ninja artisans from Iwagakure to raise the plateau from the caldera.

Amaya, Ken and Kaede, accompanied by Tenten, crossed the bridge at the head of the Hokage's procession. Just a day earlier, the five kages had arrived in Cloud City, and the three genin and their teacher had been invited to the Hokage's private suite. All three genin had been assigned missions by the Hokage or his wife Anko, and Amaya and Kaede had seen him before at banquets and formal events, but those were all public functions; none of the three had ever had a private audience with their village's leader, and all of them were a bit nervous. "The Hokage always meets with the teams that make it to the Final Round," Tenten had reassured them. "It's a private meeting this year because you're the only team that made it."

So all three of them had put on their most formal outfits and followed Tenten to the top floor of the hotel where the dignitaries from Konohagakure were staying in Cloud City. In the penthouse suite's antechamber, they were met by Anko, who greeted them. "I'll admit, you were right, Tenten. I thought you were making a rookie mistake entering a team this young, but here they are, the last ones standing after the Second Round." Then she looked over the genin before jerking her head at the carved wood door to the suite's study. "Go on in, munchkins; the Hokage's expecting you."

Amaya, Ken and Kaede bowed slightly, "Yes, Mitarashi-sama," they murmured before going into the next room.

Tenten moved to follow, but Anko caught her by the shoulder. "He wants to evaluate them privately."

Quiet alarm bells went off in Tenten's head, but she could only nod. She couldn't say that she'd rather stick her hand in a nest of literal vipers than let her students walk into a figurative viper's den alone. No, that would be suspicious, disloyal and not at all like Tenten, a loyal and good natured kunoichi of Konohagakure. So instead she leaned back against Anko's desk like she hadn't a care in the world.

"Have Elders Taka and Chihuya arrived yet?" Tenten inquired instead.

Anko nodded. "They came up with Fugaku, complaining the whole way." The purple haired woman grinned. "You're looking forward to seeing them, aren't you?"

"A little," Tenten admitted.

"Hope you're not expecting an apology," Anko said with a raised eyebrow.

Tenten laughed, shaking her head. "Amaya's the only Uchiha I've ever met who knows the definition of that work, Anko. No, I'll settle for the looks on their faces when Amaya takes the field." As far as Tenten was aware, none of the Uchiha had taken much interest in the preliminary rounds, since they weren't gamblers and they didn't think they had a horse in the race. She was betting none of them had realized yet that Amaya was in Sky City, much less that she was competing.

Making small talk with Orochimaru's wife, Tenten purposefully avoided showing the worry she felt as the minutes her students were alone with the Hokage dragged on.

* * *

Stepping into the Hokage's office, Amaya, Kaede and Ken were surprised to see the Hokage dressed not in the formal robes they had always seen him in before, but a simpler outfit; a loose, long-sleeved white shirt, tan pants, a purple rope belt knotted in the back and a simple leather thong tying back his long, black hair. His cold yellow eyes with the reptilian, slit pupils rose from the document he was reading, and he set down his pen, clasping his hands together on the desk, his gaze sweeping over the three genin. Though none of them had the honed chakra sense of their sensei, they could all feel the power of the Hokage, filling the room with an oppressive air, almost like the sensation of standing before a serpent prepared to strike.

"So," Orochimaru began in a neutral tone, "here we have the youngest team of genin entered in the Chuunin Exam lead by the second-youngest jounin sensei in Konohagakure, and yet at the end of the start of the Final Round, you three are the last left standing to represent our village."

Feeling the need to defend their teacher, Amaya spoke up. "Tenten-sensei has been an amazing teacher, ever since we were assigned to her, Hokage-sama. She made sure we were ready."

"Indeed, young Uchiha; your sensei's skill and fortitude have come to my attention more than once recently. I am beginning to think she has been underestimated." For some reason, the crooked smile that crossed the Hokage's face sent a chill down Amaya's spine rather than reassuring her. "But your sensei was not there to guide you through the recently concluded rounds of the exam; those you navigated on your own."

Orochimaru glanced down at a paper on his desk before looking back at the three genin, and as his snake eyes flickered over them, each had the disturbing sense of being weighed and measured, a calculus without any humanity in it. "In addition to congratulating you on your success and wishing you well in the final round, I did want to hear your side of the story on one matter. I spoke with the representative of the Sarutobi clan a few days ago, and he was most upset. He claimed that you three aligned yourselves with teams from foreign villages and deliberately targeted Sarutobi Konohamaru during the exam's Second Round."

"What? That's a load of-" Ken said angrily, before Amaya cut him off.

"The honorable representative of the esteemed Sarutobi clan is misinformed, Hokage-sama," Amaya answered respectfully. "It is true we worked with genin from Sunagakure and Kirigakure in order to overcome a numerically superior enemy. It is also true that our second plaque was taken from Konohamaru's team. However we obtained it after his team attacked us and our temporary allies from ambush in the middle of our fight with the Cloud genin. They came at us with intent to kill, Hokage-sama, and after defeating them we left them intact. Mostly," Amaya amended, remembering Konohamaru's broken nose.

Orochimaru leaned back in his chair, his expression serious. "You claim that the heir of the Sarutobi clan and his teammates lied to their clan elders?"

_Yes,_ Amaya thought, and from the corner of her eye Amaya could see Ken about to say that, but she beat him to the punch. "Hokage-sama, I don't pretend to understand where the miscommunication took place," she answered smoothly. "I certainly would not insult the heir of the honorable Sarutobi clan by calling him a liar without evidence. I can only relay our account of what took place and rely on your wisdom to divine the truth, Hokage-sama."

Orochimaru looked at her through narrowed eyes for a few long moments. "I must compliment your grandparents, young Uchiha. They've schooled you well in this game in such a short time."

Amaya bowed respectfully. "As in all things, I am guided by my elders, Hokage-sama."

Orochimaru waved a hand dismissively. "Indeed. Incidentally, I found your manipulation of the teams from Sand and Mist an innovative tactic. It's not easy to form effective alliances on the battlefield. If any of them go into the Final Round thinking you'll go easy on them, so much the better."

Amaya put on a hard smile she didn't feel. "Oh I hope not, Hokage-sama." At Orochimaru's surprised look, she continued. "We intend to beat them at their best."

That got a chuckle out of Orochimaru. "Ah, the bravado of youth," shaking his head, he flicked a hand at them. "Off with you, and good luck in the Final Round."

"Our thanks, Hokage-sama," they murmured with a bow before departing.

Stepping out of the Hokage's office, Amaya reflected that a year ago would have been calling Konohamaru a dirty liar right alongside Ken. But then, a year ago she was a barely tolerated member of the Uchiha clan, taken in by her grandparents out of a sense of responsibility when her wastrel of a father drank himself to death. Even her grandparents hadn't expected her to gain the sharingan, but when she had her position in the clan had changed a great deal. You weren't a 'real' Uchiha without the sharingan even if your parents were prominent members of the clan, but it worked in reverse, too. Even the daughter of a disgrace to the clan and a prostitute he had knocked up was worthy of notice once she had the eyes. In addition to clan techniques, she had been schooled in decorum and clan politics, and allowed to attend formal clan events for the first time in her life.

Thanks to that recent education, Amaya knew that as satisfying as it would be to call Konohamaru a liar, it would be counterproductive. Without proof she'd just have to apologize, and while she and Kaede had clans to shield them from the wrath of the Sarutobi, Ken didn't. So letting the Sarutobi save face was less problematic in the long run.

* * *

The Hokage's procession was the last to arrive in the Sky City arena, so when Amaya, Ken and Kaede walked out onto the arena floor, the other four genin teams were already there. As soon as they entered they were hit with a wall of noise; the arena was designed to hold 60,000 spectators, mostly from the Land of Lightning but with a noticeable mix of travelers from the other Elemental Nations. One whole section of the arena was taken up by the private boxes for the kages, the daimyos and nobles, and the wealthy to watch the event in comfort.

Ringing the arena's upper edge were a number of large screens that were displaying names, pictures and some relevant facts about the competitors, and Team Tenten found their eyes drawn to the moving images. The technology was rare and expensive outside of the Land of Rain where it had been developed, but Kumogakure had plainly spared no expense for the Final Round. Amaya noted a goofy grin on Ken's face when his picture, the headshot twice as big as he was, flashed over the monitors.

When they took their places on the arena floor among the other teams, Amaya, Kaede and Ken had their first chance to evaluate the mysterious genin team from Iwagakure. Grun was easy to spot; the eighteen year old towered over the other competitors, even Kokai, and his whole body bulged with overdeveloped muscles. His head was shaved, and scars crisscrossed his face and arms in places, but they only added to the air of menace that surrounded him. He surveyed the competition with cold, dark eyes, and the cruel gleam in his eyes when he looked at the assembled kunoichi was frankly disturbing.

The other two Rock genin were dwarfed by their teammate. One was a short, skinny teenage boy with dark hair that fell loose to his shoulders and hid his eyes, while the other had short and spiky hair that was pure white despite his youth, and an indifferent look in his green eyes.

High above the field the Raikage's assistant C stepped up to the front of the Raikage's box. He was a handsome man with short blonde hair and dark eyes in the uniform of a Kumogakure jounin. "Welcome one and all to the Final Round of this year's Chuunin Exams," he said, his voice artificially amplified to echo across the arena. "The first day of the Final Round will feature seven one-on-one matches between the competing genin."

Spreading his hands, he gestured to the monitors ringing the arena. "Match selection will now commence." On halves of each monitor, the images of the fifteen remaining genin flickered rapidly across the screens before slowing down and finally settling on two. One was the dark-haired genin from Iwagakure, his hair parted in the picture to reveal wild gray eyes and a cruel sneer. The other picture was Kaede, mostly concealed by her dark glasses and hooded coat.

"First Match: Fel of Iwagakure versus Aburame Kaede of Konohagakure!" C called out, to the sound of cheers from the Rock and Leaf supporters in the audience.

"He doesn't look very tough; you can take him, Kaede," Ken said encouragingly, and the bug-nin nodded.

"I will not fail after coming this far," Kaede said with conviction, ignoring the looks she was getting from Fel and Grun. Above the monitors were flickering again.

"Second Match: Rahl of Sunagakure versus Hoshigaki Kokai of Kirigakure!" The fish-faced swordsman and the bandaged Scorch user exchanged a quick glance and a nod.

"Third Match: Chen of Iwagakure versus Mori of Kumogakure!" This announcement got a huge cheer from the Cloud fans dominating the crowd. The blond Cloud genin and the white-haired Rock ninja didn't even look at each other, which amused Amaya because their dismissive, put-upon expressions were nearly identical.

"Fourth Match: Soren of Kumogakure versus Uchiha Amaya of Konohagakure!" Amaya glanced at the white haired genin with the lightning sword that Rahl and Kokai had fought, gauging him thoughtfully. The roar of the crowd was even louder for this match; Soren was obviously a fan favorite, waving to the crowd with a smile on his face, and the Uchiha name was famous across the Elemental Nations.

"Unless he was holding back a lot against Rahl, he has no chance," Kaede murmured.

"Fifth Match: Grun of Iwagakure versus Sira of Sunagakure!"

Amaya winced, watching a wide, sadistic grin cross the Rock genin's face as he looked at the diminutive brown-haired Sand kunoichi, who was several years younger and probably a third his weight soaking wet. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy breaking her," Grun said with glee, his deep voice audible even over the audience. Sira kept a blank face on, but Amaya could see hints of her nervousness as Rahl stepped between her and Grun, and Poe talked to her encouragingly.

"Sixth Match: Isamu Ken of Konohagakure versus Kari of Kumogakure!"

Ken ignored the roar of the crowd and the glare from the pretty Cloud genin with dark skin and red hair, instead looking at Amaya anxiously. "Do you think they would let me change opponents with Sira?"

Amaya shook her head. "It's not allowed. Are you worried about facing a ranged specialist?"

"No, I will defeat my opponent, but I am worried that Grun intends to do serious harm to Sira. I would be a better choice to face him."

"That's noble Ken, but they wouldn't let you. Sira can take care of herself, she's a good kunoichi. You worry about knocking the scowl off of that Cloud harpy's face."

"Seventh Match: Lorn of Kirigakure versus Poe of Sunagakure!" The mad bomber and the puppeteer actually grinned at each other.

"Since there are an odd number of contestants, Senne of Kirigakure will receive a bye, and will fight in the first of the second set of elimination matches beginning tomorrow." The blonde from the Mist village looked unhappy, and Amaya couldn't blame her. The point of the Final Round wasn't necessarily to be the champion, but to display one's skills to one's kage. Winning matches was less about advancing than about having more opportunities to showcase oneself. Getting a bye in the first set only meant that Senne couldn't show her stuff on the first day, and tomorrow she'd be up against a tougher opponent.

"All participants save the first match contestants should now retire to their village's private box. The first match will begin in ten minutes," C announced. Amaya and Ken wished Kaede good luck before retreating to the Konohagakure participant's box where Tenten was waiting for them, looking out over the field as Kaede and Fel faced off.

"What does Kaede know about him?" Tenten asked Amaya and Ken.

"The Mist team we worked with in the Second Round saw him fight. They say he's a specialist in earth ninjutsu, and that he's pretty strong."

"Yosh! Kaede will defeat her most unyouthful opponent!" Ken declared, and Amaya sighed while Tenten nodded agreeably.

"I'm sure she will."


	14. Final Round – Part 1

**Chapter 14: ****Final Round – Part 1**

* * *

_Author's Note: Chapter One has been updated and expanded to address some consistency issues I noticed, and to (hopefully) start the story off in a more exciting way and do a better job of introducing the story's OCs._

* * *

_Sky City Arena_

Kaede and Fel faced each other across the clay ring that formed the center of the arena. A few minutes after their companions retreated to their boxes, another blond Cloud jounin, this one with jaw-length hair and green eyes, moved to the edge of the ring. "My name is Atsui, and I'll be the referee for this blazing-hot match," he announced with a cocky grin, his voice amplified like C's to reach the whole arena. "Here are the rules: this fight will last until one party forfeits or is unable to continue fighting. I'm the one who decides if one of you is unable to continue. When I say the fight's over, it's over. Any aggressive action taken after I say the fight's over will disqualify your ass, and you sure as hell won't be making chuunin if you can't take orders in the heat of battle. Am I understood?"

When he got a nod of affirmation from both parties he nodded and took a step back, glancing up at C in the Raikage's box. At a signal from the Raikage's aide, he turned back to Kaede and Fel. "All right: ready, set… begin!" he called before disappearing in a blur of motion to give them room.

Without wasting a word, Fel started forming hand signs. Kaede didn't wait to see what he was going to throw at her. Turning tail, she sprinted for the pond, kikai bugs pouring from under her coat as she ran.

When graduating from the Academy, most genin had to pass a few basic tests: a written exam, basic understanding of taijutsu, and enough mastery of ninjutsu to perform the clone and substitution techniques. Aburame graduating from the Academy faced a test unique to their clan: mastery of the two basic strains of kikai bugs: the sensor bugs that gave an Aburame an awareness of their surroundings, and the soldier bugs that bit opponents and drained their chakra. A third strain, the workers, lived inside every Aburame from the time their hive was implanted, but workers served no function outside the body, existing solely to support the needs of the kikai queen nestled in the Aburame's abdomen.

Running at top speed towards the pond, Kaede dispersed sensor bugs in a wide cloud around her and the Rock genin she faced, while deploying one swarm of soldiers towards Fel as an experiment. _First query: Can he counter the kikai bugs?_

"Can't get away that easy, bug girl," Fel taunted. "Doton: Ganban Kyu!" _[Bedrock Coffin]_

With a surge of adrenaline and chakra, Kaede jumped as slabs of rock shot out of the ground around her at an angle. She felt one rock brush her foot as she barely cleared the trap, shuddering as she heard the rocks grind together behind her. Six months ago she wouldn't have made that jump. _That was a lethal technique,_ she realized.

Fel didn't get off another attack, because Kaede's soldier bugs were almost on top of him. Scowling, he had to turn and run at an angle, staying away from the bugs while trying not to let Kaede get too far away. Kaede made it to the pond and continued running across its surface, making for the small forest that made up half the arena's floor. Glancing back, she noticed that she was gaining ground on Fel, who had to circle around the pond. _These Rock genin really are specialized in direct assault; they aren't even trained in water walking._ Tenten had made sure her students could walk on walls and water before they took their first C-Rank.

_Second query: Can he even climb trees?_ Kaede crossed the pond and ran straight up the trunk of the first large tree she encountered. "Get back here and fight you Leaf coward!" she heard Fel yell behind her as she disappeared into the foliage.

_Yes, I'm sure you'd like that_. Since Fel hadn't killed her first soldier swarm yet, she sent out a second one to home in on the scent markers of the sensor bug that had attached itself to Fel while he was dealing with the obvious threat. With any luck he'd run out of places to dodge her bugs and she wouldn't have to engage him directly. Finding a hiding place in a densely leafy tree canopy, Kaede focused on her bugs, watching through the eyes of her sensor cloud as the soldier swarms cornered Fel among the trees and set upon him. The screaming and flailing was customary, but then Kaede saw him turn brown and crumble into clumps of damp soil. _A mud clone; when did he do that?_ Kaede expanded her awareness to the rest of her sensor swarm, but caught no trace of Fel.

A moment later, the tree she was perched in shuddered, and then started to list. Glancing down, Kaede saw the dirt around the trees base churning, and Fel's hiding place became clear. _He went underground, he knows where I am, and he's bringing the tree down to flush me out._ Kaede was forced to revise her estimation of her opponent's intelligence as she ran along a branch and made a leap to the next tree over. As soon as her feet left the branch four rock spikes shot out of the dirt below, headed right for her; alarmed, Kaede managed to perform a substitution with a piece of the tree she'd been aiming for, and a log took her place and was perforated by the rocky projectiles.

Keeping on the move through the treetops, Kaede found herself dodging more ground-based projectiles. It was a stalemate, and not one in her favor. She couldn't get at him underground, and while he'd run out of chakra or air soon, he might very well hit her before then. Deciding to change the game rather than continue relying on her evasive skills, Kaede headed back to the pond, moving higher into the branches to hide from Fel's sight as a plan formed in her head. Pouring out a large number of soldier bugs, Kaede performed her most recently perfected jutsu and then leapt from the trees onto the surface of the pond, sprinting out to the middle before stopping.

As she'd anticipated, the attacks stopped, and after half a minute Fel emerged from the earth by the bank of the pond, picking a spot far from her soldier swarms. "You think going out there's going to protect you, bug girl? Sorry. Doton: Dorohaaku!" _[Mud Grasp]_

The water under Kaede's feet churned and she moved to run, but a geyser of mud shot up from the pond bed, engulfing her in grasping tendrils and dragging her down below the pond's surface, cutting off her cry of alarm.

Fel smirked as he looked at the pond's muddied surface and then glanced at Atsui, observing from a distance. "You might want to call the match, proctor. Bug girl's going to drown soon."

Fel never saw the real Kaede drop from the tree branches above and behind him, anger glittering in her silver eyes. Losing as many kikai bugs as it took to form a bug clone was enough to irritate any Aburame, so she didn't hold back when she landed behind him with a kunai in each hand, slicing deep into the muscles of his shoulders and leaving one kunai embedded in his flesh while getting a good handful of his hair, yanking his head back and pressing the second kunai to his throat. "Surrender or I will leave you bleeding out on your precious earth," Kaede informed him with a dangerous edge to her voice.

"Bitch!" Fel gasped, his voice ragged with pain. She saw his arms twitch, but she'd cut deep enough that he wouldn't be using his hands for a while. "Kill you… I'll kill you!"

"Not today, kid," Atsui announced. "This match is over. Aburame Kaede is the winner." Kaede stepped back, and without support Fel collapsed to his knees, blood flowing freely from his wounds. He glared pure murder at her from pained eyes as the medics rushed out to treat his wounds. Kaede shrugged, wiped off her kunai and headed over to reunite with her teammates.

When she reached the Konohagakure participant's box, Amaya and Ken were there to congratulate her, and she suffered a hug from her sensei. "That was great, Kaede," Tenten told her. "You outmaneuvered him from beginning to end."

"Thank you, sensei," Kaede replied before heading for the refreshment table and digging into the food left for them with a gusto that had shocked her teammates the first time she did it, but which they were used to now. She'd have to fight again tomorrow, so she needed to provide her kikai queen enough nutrients to replace the lost soldiers in the next twenty-four hours. She would have to eat until she was stuffed several times between now and then.

The first time the other kunoichi at the academy had found out that Kaede could (and often had to) pig out on whatever she wanted and never gained weight they hadn't spoken to the confused Aburame girl for almost a week. Kaede had been confused until her uncle Shino had told her that Hyuuga Hinata and Yamanaka Ino, his kunoichi peers as a genin, had had a similar reaction when he'd told them. "Many shinobi outside of our clan have a similarly illogical reaction to our hive metabolism. Except for the Akamichi; for some reason they seem to pity us for it. I've given up trying to understand either point of view," Shino had said, and Kaede had taken his advice. At least Ken hadn't been mad at her, although his habit of challenging her to eating contests and sulking when he lost had taken some getting used to as well.

* * *

Half an hour later, once some resident Doton specialists had fixed the damage Fel had done to the arena floor, Rahl and Kokai stepped into the ring. Waiting for them was a busty, blue-eyed blonde jounin with a low-cut gray tunic and skirt and a broad white sash around her waist. "My name is Samui, and I'll be supervising your cool battle today," she announced calmly. "Are you ready?" She got two nods from the genin. "Then begin!"

"Sorry Kokai, I'll try to make this quick," Rahl said apologetically as he formed red scorch orbs in each hand.

"Keep thinking it'll be that easy, Rahl," Kokai said with a grin as he formed a one-handed sign. Courtesy of the ring's proximity to the pond, a thick fog boiled out of the water, expanding rapidly. As soon as Rahl saw the forming mist he threw his scorch orbs at Kokai, but the fog swept over the fish-faced Mist genin before they hit and the attack missed, striking a boulder fifty meters behind where Kokai had been.

Rahl didn't waste any time retreating from the ring, running out into the dry, sandy rock garden that formed the other half of the arena. The mist, fed by a ready source of water, blanketed the entire arena in less than a minute. There was some grumbling from the audience about how fights involving Mist ninja tended to make for terrible viewing.

Stopping in the arena's barren section, Rahl just shook his head as the fog enveloped him. "Come on, Kokai, you can do better than this." Rahl clapped his hands together and then spread them out to either side. "Scorch Release: Heat Wave!"

A faint, reddish glow surrounded Rahl, and the air in the arena, which had been still as the mist filled it, was stirred to motion as heat radiated from the Sand genin, pushing a wave of hot air outwards from himself that shredded the mist, opening a large circle around himself where the fog could not intrude. "Cute, Rahl," a source less voice whispered from behind the border of the mist. "Let's see you evaporate this. Suiton: Teppodama!" _[Gunshot]_

A fast-moving ball of water shot from the fog behind Rahl, who sensed it and turned but couldn't evade it; he got a hand up and formed a scorch orb in its path, which blocked the attack but produced an explosion of steam that knocked him back. Immediately Rahl had to draw his trench knives to defend himself as Kokai had followed his attack out of the mist and came at Rahl sword in hand. Disadvantaged by the greater size of his opponent and the longer reach of his weapon, Rahl was forced on the defensive, dodging and parrying heavy blows from the massive broadsword. Covering his knives in his scorch aura Rahl tried to use the heat to damage Kokai's weapon, but the grinning blue-skinned genin retaliated by spitting out a stream of water that coated and clung to his sword, producing gouts of steam each time their weapons met but protecting the metal from heat damage.

Focused on protecting himself from the swordsman's relentless attack, Rahl failed to notice that all the steam their opposing elements were producing was causing the mist to thicken and close in again. Kokai saw it, however, and with a pointy-toothed grin, vanished into the haze. Suddenly aware of the danger, Rahl started to duplicate his Heat Wave to push back the mist, but before he could muster the chakra Kokai emerged from the mist behind him, water condensing from the moisture-laden air around his fist as it plunged towards Rahl. "Suiro no Jutsu!" _[Water Prison Technique]_

Rahl tried to dodge, but the sphere of water closed around him remorselessly, and a second later he was trapped, floating in a bubble of water extending from Kokai's left hand. Kokai's hand inside the bubble closed into a fist. Rahl's body convulsed and bubbles escaped from his mouth as Kokai increased the water pressure inside the prison, forcing the air from the Sand genin's lungs.

"Sorry, Rahl," Kokai said. "Just pass out and I'll dispel the prison." Noticing a red glow starting to form around Rahl, Kokai shook his head. "Don't do it. The pressure will keep the steam in and cook you alive."

Ignoring that advice, Rahl managed – with some difficulty – to extend a single finger in the direction of Kokai's hand maintaining the prison, and the fish-faced genin saw his opponent's lips move. "Scorch Release: Heat Ray!"

In a line between Rahl's arm and Kokai's, the water of the prison churned into compressed steam that engulfed Rahl's arm, but reached the edge of the prison and exploded outward, coating Kokai's arm in superheated steam as well. With a pained yell Kokai leapt back and the water prison collapsed. Grimacing, Kokai examined his left arm, which was covered in nasty burns up to the elbow and then at Rahl, coughing and clambering to his feet, steam rising off of the bandages on his arm, which he hurriedly unraveled and threw away, revealing skin that was reddened but not burned. "The bandages aren't just for fashion, Kokai," Rahl panted. "They're pretty good at blocking steam burns, too. You're not the first guy to throw water at my Scorch Release."

Kokai closed in on Rahl with a growl, determined to end the fight before his opponent got his breath back. Pain radiated from his left arm with each movement, but he ignored it; he needed both hands to beat Rahl. To his surprise, it was Rahl who disengaged, leaping back and vanishing into the mist. Kokai was puzzled but didn't complain, instead pouring his chakra into the air to thicken the fog until visibility was down to nothing.

Letting the slits on his cheeks open slightly Kokai breathed the mist-filled air deeply through his nose. Catching Rahl's scent, he stalked silently through the mist as he'd been taught. Expecting Rahl to push back the haze at any moment, Kokai was surprised when it didn't happen. _He must be close to running dry on chakra,_ Kokai realized. Closing to melee range behind Rahl, Kokai saw the form of his opponent through the fog, and wasted no time swinging his sword, aiming the flat of the blade at the side of the Sand genin's head for a knockout blow. The sword connected – and then went straight through as Rahl wavered and vanished.

Kokai felt a whisper of a breeze on his back, but even as he started to turn pain shot up his legs as Rahl's trench knives sliced into his hamstrings. Kokai collapsed to the ground, grunting to suppress a cry of pain, seeing Rahl standing over him, bloody knives in hand. Struggling to stand he failed, his legs useless. "How?" Kokai demanded through clenched teeth. "I smelled you there!"

Rahl didn't answer right away, pulsing out another heat wave to dispel the mist so Samui could see the match was over. "The Scorch Release is a combination of wind and fire," he answered quietly. "My Mirage Clones smell like me, and even mimic my body's heat."

"Damn it," Kokai gasped, "you got me," he admitted, giving up on trying to rise and sprawling on the sand, blood flowing from his wounded legs.

The busty blonde proctor emerged from the fog a moment later. "Rahl of Sunagakure is the winner!" she announced. "Medics to the field!"

Once the mist dissipated Team Tenten watched from their box as Kokai was carted off the field, and Rahl returned to the Sunagakure box. "That was brutal," Ken observed. Like the rest of the arena's audience, he had been watching the monitors rather than the arena itself, where ninja carrying cameras with chakra-sensitive lenses from the same Land of Rain manufacturers as the monitors had been capturing what they could of the action. Even with the special equipment the images were blurry, but they'd shown enough.

"Rahl's gotten stronger since the last time we saw him," Amaya confirmed, and Kaede nodded silently, still busy stuffing herself.

"The next match will begin in half an hour!" Samui announced.

* * *

"This ought to be interesting," Tenten observed as Chen of Iwagakure, Grun's final teammate and Mori of Kumogakure, whom Kokai had fought in Peregrine Pass, took the field.

"How so, sensei?" Kaede inquired. "We'll certainly be paying attention to see what the winner is capable of, but I don't think we really care who wins."

"They're both unknowns, and that's rare in the Final Round. With you three for example, everyone knows roughly what your capabilities are, but not much is known about those two. The odds-makers in the Sky City casinos are tearing their hair out because they can't assign odds with much confidence."

Amaya nodded thoughtfully. "The Mist genin said that Chen knows medical ninjutsu, and we saw Mori fight in the Second Round; he's good with that tanto on his back. Granted Kokai was injured already, but he had a hard time holding off Mori even with size and reach on his side."

"Who are the favorites according to the odds-makers?" Ken asked.

"You were the favorite in your fight, Kaede. Kokai was a slight favorite in his fight; rumors were that he's on the short list to join the Seven Swordsman of the Mist once he's older and higher in rank."

"Really?" Ken exclaimed.

Tenten shrugged. "It's a rumor. But few ninja even in Kirigakure fight with a sword that large, and his sensei Ringo is already one of the Seven Swords." Amaya thought she heard her sensei mutter, "May she rot in hell," under her breath.

"There isn't a clear favorite in this match," Tenten continued. "Amaya, Grun, Kari and Poe are the favorites in the remaining matches."

"Wait," Ken said with a frown. "People are betting against me?"

"Probably," Tenten admitted. "The odds-makers work with what's on paper, and on paper you're a clanless taijutsu specialist up against a kunoichi from a fairly well known Kumogakure clan who's very good at taking down opponents at long range." When Ken looked disappointed, she added, "You'd think after Maito Gai and Rock Lee wiped the floor with the competition in their Chuunin Exams other villages would stop underestimating 'clanless taijutsu specialists' from Konohagakure, but if your opponents sell you short, that's your advantage." At that, Ken perked up.

On the arena floor, Atsui had introduced himself. Once Chen and Mori signaled that they were ready, he called out, "Begin!"

Mori, the bowl-cut blond from Cloud, drew his tanto and rushed straight at Chen, the disdainful white-haired Rock genin, who retreated while peppering Mori with shuriken that the Cloud genin deflected or dodged. Chen threw a smoke bomb in between them and hurled more shuriken through it, but Mori wisely diverted around the smoke, and retaliated with a thrown kunai that nicked Chen's forearm as he ducked away from it.

Chen turned and ran for the pond as Kaede had, dropping a few more smoke bombs in his wake, and there was a faint glow of chakra under the hand he used to grip the cut on his arm from Mori's kunai. When he removed his hand while running over the pond's surface, the wound was gone. "Not just first aid, he actually knows medical ninjutsu," Tenten commented. "That's unusual for a genin. The chakra control required for healing is precise enough that most medical ninja won't take a student for training until they're a chuunin."

If Chen had hoped to lose Mori by running out onto the lake, his hopes were dashed when the stony-faced blond chased him out onto the water. Undeterred, Chen stopped when he reached the center of the lake and formed some hand signs before dropping to one knee and thrusting his hand down onto the water's surface. Chen had plainly just used ninjutsu, but he'd done so silently, and nothing obvious happened that the audience could see. Mori, however, halted his advance and backed off a few steps, wary.

"Smart kid," Tenten murmured, nodding at Mori.

"What did Chen do?" Ken inquired, and Amaya and Kaede looked puzzled as well.

"Look closely at the water's surface around him," Tenten instructed her genin. Amaya activated her sharingan, and the details came into view. In a spreading ring around Chen the water's surface was a slightly different color and had an oily sheen to it.

"He put something in the water. It can't be an accelerant if he's standing in the middle of it," Amaya said thoughtfully. "Is it poison?"

"Most likely," Tenten agreed. "Whatever it is, Mori's smart enough not to touch it. Of course, that means he can't get close enough to use that tanto, which is what Chen wanted."

His advance halted, Mori threw a few more kunai at Chen, who dodged them easily, drawing a kunai of his own and filling his other hand with a trio of senbon that he hurled at Mori. The blond deflected the first volley, but Chen was already throwing more, and in midair they multiplied from three to six, and one of them got through Mori's guard and buried itself in his left arm. Chen smirked and tossed some more senbon that went wide as Mori dodged sideways and continued running parallel to Chen, increasing the distance between them and retreating to the lake's edge. By the time he got to shore, the audience could see that his left arm was hanging limp. "Poisoned senbon; this may be over," Tenten observed.

But once safely out of Chen's range, Mori looked at his left arm with irritation as he sheathed his tanto. He yanked the senbon out with a grimace and then pressed his right hand over the puncture wound, pale green light seeping out from between his fingers. "Or not," Tenten admitted cheerfully. "Two genin medics in an elimination match; this may be a Chuunin Exam first."

Chen's surprise lasted only a moment before he abandoned his position on the pond and sprinted towards Mori, plainly intending to interrupt his opponent before he could finish purging the poison from his system. Mori dodged the next hail of senbon, however, and his left hand closed into a fist. He drew a pair of kunai and threw them both at Chen.

Chen deflected one with his own kunai and ignored the other, which was aimed too low and fell into the pond at his feet. The Rock genin spotted the wire attached to that kunai a fraction of a second too late.

"Raiton: Borutorain!" _[Volt Line]_ Mori growled as he clenched the other end of the wire in his hands. Sparks flew from the water's surface and Chen screamed, his body convulsing violently as he was electrocuted by Mori's jutsu. The loss of motor control saved Chen from a fatal shock, as the chakra keeping his feet on the water's surface disappeared and he sank down into the pond.

Releasing the wire, Mori readied shuriken in each hand, his hard blue eyes scanning the water's surface, ready to finish Chen as soon as the Rock genin surfaced. He was thus surprised when the next attack came from beneath the water. A blob of viscous, translucent goop shot from under the water just meters from shore and hit Mori in the chest before he could dodge it. Splashing over the Cloud genin as he staggered back, the goo covered most of his body.

Chen popped up out of the water looking a bit singed, his movements slower and less fluid due to the scrambled nerves from the blast of electricity he'd taken. But Mori was a lot slower too, fighting against the apparently adhesive goo covering his body. It took him some effort to yank his tanto back out of its sheath, and when he closed with Chen to avoid more projectiles, he couldn't swing his weapon fast enough to connect.

"Now it's a matter of which of them recovers first," Tenten said, watching the fight with interest.

Chen seemed to be winning on that front, a kunai gleaming with poison in each hand as he got over the shock he'd received and moved from defense to offense, driving Mori back as the glue-bound Cloud genin struggled to keep up. The glue seemed to be gradually drying, slowing Mori down more, and it wasn't long before Chen got through Mori's guard, driving one of his kunai into the blond's right bicep down to the bone. Chen drew back the other kunai and stabbed at Mori's chest when the coating of glue suddenly became fully liquid again, sloughing off of Mori's body. Chen hesitated for a fatal second in his stab. Mori didn't hesitate, the tanto gripped in his left hand coming up and across Chen's neck with the speed he had displayed against Kokai.

The second kunai fell from Chen's hand, his eyes widening slightly. A thin, nearly horizontal crimson line appeared on Chen's neck, and then his head slid off of his neck, both pieces of his body tumbling to the ground amid a spray of blood. There was an indrawn breath from the audience and a few scattered screams, joined a moment later by angry shouts from the Iwagakure section of the audience.

Mori ignored the audience, dropping to a knee as he wrenched the poisoned kunai out of his arm and started healing the wound, his face drawn and paler than usual. "Mori of Kumogakure is the winner," Atsui announced, the statement neutral and somewhat subdued. Medic moved onto the field to help Mori with his wound, and stretcher bearers collected the separated head and body of Chen, carrying his remains to the Iwagakure section. The crowd, even the Kumogakure section, was quiet as Mori got up and walked off the field under his own power, despite the blood running down his arm.

"That was a confusing fight," Ken admitted. "What happened at the end to that glue bomb?"

"That was a shinobi fight," Tenten said. "Mori won because he landed the final surprise of the match. I've seen the technique Chen used, or at least a similar one. There's a chuunin in our village named Kamizuki Izumo who uses it. He molds his chakra into the water to make it sticky and viscous and then coats the ground with it to trap enemies. That Cloud genin Mori figured out a way to counteract it. He fed his own chakra into the glue until it overwhelmed Chen's chakra and turned it back to regular water."

"Did Mori have to kill him, though?" Ken asked quietly.

"Chen was certainly trying to kill him. That kunai was aimed at Mori's heart," Kaede interjected, having just finished decimating the snack tray.

"Honestly, it's better in the long run that one of them died in that fight," Tenten told her students seriously.

"How can you say that, sensei?" Ken objected. "They're genin like us!"

"I say it because they're genin like you, Ken. They're your age and you may very well have found yourself in opposition to them in the field someday. Chen and Mori fought smart. They were both probably clanless and had limited chakra reserves. You'll notice they weren't tossing off huge, flashy jutsus like Rahl and Kokai did. Everything they used was localized and purposeful. You three need to keep an eye out for Mori if you face him later in the tournament, because he probably has more surprises, and he won't hesitate to go for the kill. Chen was the same, which is why I'm just as happy he died, and none of you will have to face him someday."

"Sensei, I- I can't agree with that," Ken said, his gray eyes regarding her stubbornly. "This exam is supposed to be a chance to show the fires of our youth and become chuunin. No one needs to die for that. It's sad that so many genin have died so far in the exam, and I won't pretend to like that, even if they are all from other villages."

Dropping to a knee to look Ken in the eye, Tenten put her hands on his shoulders. "Ken, I'm not trying to change you or your nindo," she said earnestly. "It warms my heart that you value the lives of others; if anything, the Hidden Villages have all lost too much regard for human life. Killing should never be easy, but you may not always have the luxury of holding back from the kill when your life or the lives of your friends and allies are on the line. Fight for what you believe in, Ken. I just don't want you to forget that your opponents will not often show the same restraint that you do."

"I understand, sensei," Ken said. "I will not ascribe my motives to my opponents when we test the fires of our youth, but I will not abandon them."

"That's all I ask," Tenten said, giving him a quick hug before returning to her feet.

"The next match will begin in half an hour!" Atsui announced.

Tenten looked at Amaya. "Are you ready?"

Amaya nodded confidently. "Ready and eager to kick Cloud boy's sparky behind and shut that half of the arena up," she said, jerking a thumb towards the Kumogakure section.

"That's the spirit!" Tenten encouraged her.


	15. Final Round – Part 2

**Chapter 15: Final Round – Part 2**

* * *

Amaya faced Soren, the leader of the Cloud genin team that had survived the Battle of Peregrine Pass, across the clay ring. He had a cocky smile on his face, the stick of a lollipop in his mouth of all things, and his katana already drawn and resting carelessly on his shoulder. "So you're an Uchiha, huh? Never fought one of you before; I'm looking forward to seeing if you live up to the reputation."

"I'll try not to disappoint," Amaya replied dryly.

"Rumor has it you're the one who got those teams from different villages together to break the blockade in Peregrine Pass. That true?" Soren inquired idly.

"I got the ball rolling, but I can't take all the credit," Amaya admitted freely. "Why, are you mad about your friends getting disqualified?"

Soren snorted. "Okay, first none of those idiots were my friends. We didn't want any part of their shit plan. The only reason we were there was because the choice was helping them or fighting them and we didn't feel like taking on all nine of them by ourselves. Truthfully, I'm glad you and your buddies did the hard work of busting their asses. Made it easy to lift Creed's plaque and move on." Twirling his blade in his hand, Soren grinned. "Don't think I'm going to take it easy on you, though. Hell, once I take down an Uchiha the Raikage will make me chuunin for sure, no matter what happens next match."

Amaya laughed. "There's just one problem with that scenario. You haven't taken down an Uchiha, and you never will." With a fierce grin Amaya set her sharingan spinning, drawing a kunai in each hand. Soren settled into his stance, blade held high and parallel to the ground by his head.

"Well you two look eager to fight," Samui commented. "Keep it cool for a second. You both ready?"

"Anytime," Amaya said intently.

"Start the match, nee-chan," Soren said playfully. "My chuunin vest is waiting for me."

Samui's eyebrow twitched at the 'nee-chan'. "Just because Omoi is your sensei doesn't mean I won't hurt you, Soren," she threatened softly, below the range of the amplification jutsu. "The fourth match begins, now!" she called out before moving back.

Soren spat out his half-eaten lollipop and charged Amaya, electricity arcing down his blade. Amaya threw both of her kunai at him; he ducked under one and deflected the other. Amaya flashed through a set of hand signs and exhaled a fireball at him. With a yell he struck the fireball with his charged sword while pushing out his lightning chakra. The fire jutsu split in two and he charged through the middle, closing in on Amaya who started backing up too late as his sparking blade descended on her.

That's what Soren saw. What the 60,000 spectators, five kages, and shinobi from across the Elemental Nations saw was Soren freezing in place as soon as Samui said "now". Then they saw Uchiha Amaya put her kunai away and then stroll up to the Cloud genin with her hands in her pockets. The white-haired boy didn't move or react as Amaya took his katana from his unresisting hands and laid the edge of the blade against his neck before glancing at Samui.

"Are you going to call it? I'd rather not kill him," Amaya said evenly.

Samui buried her face in her palm for a moment. "What a disgrace," she muttered, before speaking up. "Uchiha Amaya of Konohagakure is the winner!" The loud booing from the Kumogakure section of the stands filled the arena, but when Amaya looked at the other villages sections, she was pretty sure she could see a number of shinobi fighting laughter.

Amaya dropped Soren's sword at his feet and released him from the sharingan-boosted genjutsu that he hadn't had a snowball's chance in hell of sensing or breaking once he'd made the mistake of eye contact. The hapless Cloud genin blinked, looking from his empty hands to the sword on the ground, at Amaya's retreating back and then at Samui, who was looking at him with cool disdain. "I- what happened?" he said uncertainly.

"You lost. Never look an Uchiha in the eyes," Samui said with disgust, "not even a pint-sized one."

Realizing what had been done to him, Soren shook with rage as he glared at the back of the retreating girl two years his junior who had made a fool out of him in front of his village and thousands of spectators. Rage consumed him, and he stepped towards Amaya, forming hand signs.

"Soren, no!" Samui yelled.

Amaya whirled as she heard the shout, and saw Soren glaring at her, his face twisted with anger and his hands forming signs. She hadn't yet turned her sharingan off, and with her heart pounding Amaya copied his seals, her fingers flying. Her eyes locked onto Soren, she spoke the words in tandem with him. "Raiton: Rakkasora!" _[Falling Sky]_ Soren and Amaya yelled at the same time, Amaya mirroring Soren's movement as they each thrust a hand to the sky with index and middle fingers straight and the rest folded.

Amaya saw Soren's hair stand on end, and felt hers do the same as static washed over her. She had a moment of horrified comprehension as she understood that the jutsu she'd copied wasn't a direct attack she could nullify with her own like a fireball or a blast of wind. The moment of understanding ended with two lightning bolts that fell from the sky, engulfing both genin. Amaya experienced a moment of intense pain as every muscle in her body seized at once. Then blackness claimed her.

* * *

As soon as the enraged Cloud genin started forming the signs, Tenten knew what he was preparing to do to Amaya. A heartbeat later Amaya was copying the ninjutsu, but Tenten knew that wouldn't help beyond carrying her murderer down to the grave with her.

_Why would they teach that technique to an out of control genin? _ She raged internally as she vaulted over the edge of the Konohagakure box and sprinted down the stairs, knowing she wouldn't make it. Even the proctor Samui, who was far closer and sprinting towards Soren couldn't intervene in time, and the barriers around the edge of the arena to prevent outside interference or stray jutsus hitting the crowd also blocked the few shinobi outside who could have performed a shunshin _[Body Flicker]_ in time to make a difference. Tenten was almost through the barrier when twin pillars of light from the heavens engulfed Amaya and her opponent.

Once she was past the barrier Tenten disappeared in a swirl of leaves, arriving at Amaya's side as the dreadful light faded, just in time to catch the girl in her arms. Smoke was rising from her singed patches on her clothes, and her eyes were shut. "No," Tenten whispered. Amaya wasn't breathing, and when Tenten pressed her ear to the slender girl's chest there was no heartbeat. "Oh Kami no," she pleaded, laying Amaya on the ground and starting compressions on her sternum.

"Medics to the field, now!" Samui yelled.

Paying little heed, Tenten cleared Amaya's airway and breathed down her throat several times before resuming chest compressions. "Don't die Amaya," Tenten pleaded, her vision blurring with stinging tears. "Please don't die."

Then there were other people around her, hands trying to draw her away from Amaya's still, prone form. Feverishly she shrugged them off. "Breathe for me, Amaya, please," she begged. Then stronger hands seized her arms and dragged her back. She struggled against them until the familiar voices penetrated the panicked haze in her mind.

"Tenten, get ahold of yourself!" Shikamaru barked in her ear, maintaining a firm grip on her right arm.

"Calm down. Breathe. I know how you're feeling," Genma said calmly to her left. "You did a great job, now let the medics work."

When Tenten had calmed down Shikamaru and Genma let go of her, and she sank to her knees, watching numbly as the Kumogakure first responders and then medics from the Hokage's retinue worked to stabilize Amaya, pouring medical chakra into her body to stave off cell death while they tried to pull her back from the brink.

Lacking their sensei's speed, Kaede and Ken took a bit longer to make it down onto the field, stopping uncertainly near Tenten. "Is Amaya okay, sensei?"

By sheer effort of will Tenten pulled herself together for her other students, rising to her feet and wiping her face clean. "We won't know until the medics are done, Ken," she responded automatically.

Ken glared at the prone form of Soren, being treated on the other side of the ring. His sensei Omoi and his teammates stood nearby looking stunned, at Soren's actions, his injury or both. "Why did he do that, sensei?"

Tenten didn't answer immediately, and Kaede interjected. "I think Amaya wounded Soren's pride by defeating him so easily. I suspect in addition to being humiliated he believed that he would have no chance of being promoted to chuunin. Even genin who lose their first match can be promoted if they display the qualities of a chuunin, but Soren fell for Amaya's first genjutsu; he didn't have a chance to do anything." The words sounded like Kaede's usual analytical self, but her voice was rough.

"I've got a heartbeat!" one of the Konohagakure medics yelled after an agonizingly long minute, and Tenten gasped in partial relief. When used by a jounin that lightning ninjutsu rarely left enough of its target to bury, but plainly neither Amaya nor Soren had been able to produce a full-powered bolt. How much nerve damage was inflicted was still an open question, however.

"Get her intubated!" another medic said. Tenten watched as they put a breathing tube down Amaya's throat and loaded her onto a stretcher. Ken and Kaede trotted forward to walk beside her. Tenten followed at a distance when they wheeled her out of the arena.

"You were right, Shikamaru," Tenten admitted. "I shouldn't have entered them."

Her fellow jounin's hand fell on her shoulder. "No, you were right," the Nara heir said firmly. "Your genin have exceeded everyone's expectations, Tenten. You've trained them well. It's not a mark against you or them that some punk tried to murder Amaya over a bruised ego."

"I know it's not what you want to hear, Tenten, but we can never protect them from everything," Genma added heavily. "Kami knows I wish I could."

Numbly, Tenten followed Amaya's stretcher into the tunnels below the arena. "Tenten, Ken still has a match coming up," Shikamaru reminded her. "They may delay tomorrow's matches for Amaya, but they're still going to finish the first set today."

Shaking herself free of her funk, Tenten nodded, taking a deep breath. "You're right, of course. You'll stay with her?" Shikamaru nodded firmly, and then they both picked up their pace, catching up with Amaya's stretcher. "Ken, we need to go back to the arena," Tenten told him. When he looked at her in surprise, she continued. "You still have a match today."

Ken shook his head. "I don't care. They can delay the match or they can disqualify me. I want to stay with Amaya." He looked back at the Uchiha girl, and when Tenten saw the emotions in his gray eyes, she kicked herself. _Is that recent or have I just not noticed?_ Adolescent crushes on genin teams were common, and usually passed. She hadn't seen any sign of one between Ken and Amaya, but she couldn't deny the evidence on the red-head's face.

"Ken we can't do anything for her now. It's in the doctor's hands," Tenten said patiently. Ken's expression turned mulish.

"Ken, how do you think Amaya will feel when she wakes up and finds out that you threw away your shot at chuunin because she got hurt? How are you going to feel if Amaya gets fried again by an opponent you let advance? When we started training for the exam we promised we'd all make chuunin together, so go disqualify that asshole's teammate and then come back with a story for Amaya when she wakes up." Ken was wide-eyed, flinching back from Kaede a little by the end of the Aburame girl's tirade.

"O-ok, I'm going," Ken stammered, probably at least as much to placate Kaede as any real desire to fight his match.

_Smart girl,_ Tenten mentally congratulated Kaede, putting her hand on Ken's shoulder and steering him back towards the arena. She didn't miss Kaede's satisfied smile as she followed Amaya's stretcher towards the hospital.

* * *

Half an hour later and with no additional word from the medics, the next match began. Sira and Grun stepped into the ring, where both Samui and Atsui were waiting. "It's already been stated a few times today, but just to be safe, we're going to reiterate: when one of us says the match is over, it's over. Anyone attacking or forming a jutsu once the match is over will be dealt with severely," Atsui declared.

"Now, are both participants ready?" Samui asked. Sira nodded.

"Not quite yet, proctor," Grun said with a twisted grin. Then he drew a kunai and threw it into the center of the ring where it embedded itself in the clay surface. There was a collective gasp from the Kumogakure section of the arena, and Samui and Atsui exchanged a grave look.

Sira looked as puzzled, as did virtually everyone not from Kumogakure. Genma, who had joined Tenten and Ken in the Konohagakure participant's box, hissed between his teeth when he saw the kunai throw. "Well he doesn't mess around."

"What does that signify?" Tenten asked as a growing murmur rose from the audience. Samui and Atsui separated, Atsui going to talk to Grun, who nodded with a sick grin. When Samui talked to Sira, the Sand genin's tanned face paled and she blanched, shaking her head violently.

"Something Kumogakure did in the old days when they pitted their genin against each other to fight for promotions," Genma explained grimly. "Throwing a kunai into the ring like that is a request that the match be to the death. The proctors won't end the match and it isn't over until someone's dead. Don't ask me why they decided to include it when the exams became inter-village affairs. It's still on the books, but no one's issued a challenge at a Kumogakure exam in generations. Not sure how a Rock genin found out about it. He doesn't look like the type who reads law books."

"So Sira has to fight to the death?" Ken said, sounding outraged.

Genma shook his head. "Both participants have to agree to it and it looks like the Sand girl isn't interested." Grun shrugged, stepping forward to retrieve his kunai, leering at Sira and tracing the blade across his neck before returning to his side of the ring, ignoring a reprimand from Atsui. "He probably just did it to psych her out," Genma concluded.

"I'd say it worked," Tenten added. She could see fear on Sira's face that the brunette kunoichi was struggling to control.

It looked like Atsui was reminding Grun that the match was over when they said it was over. Then the proctors stepped back. "Ready? Begin!"

Sira was drawing her battle fans when Grun disappeared in a swirl of dust, reappearing right in front of Sira who had just enough time for a look of terror before Grun's fist met her face with a meaty 'crack' that threw Sira back and laid her out on the ground. The Sand kunoichi was obviously dazed from the blow, but Grun didn't move to take advantage. The Rock genin actually took a few steps back, examining his knuckles and licking Sira's blood from them as the girl slowly got to her feet, wobbling. Blood trickled from a nose that looked broken and her cheek where the skin had broken under the impact.

"C'mon you little sand rat, give me your best shot," Grun jeered.

One of Sira's eyes looked to be swelling shut, but the other burned with anger. "Futon: Kazekiri!" _[Wind Cutter]_ she called, her battle fans flashing. The air in front of her distorted as blades of compressed air flew at Grun.

Grun didn't even try to dodge, instead forming the snake hand sign. Then the wind blades hit him. Sira's attack threw up a cloud of dust on impact. "How was that, asshole," she grated, the broken nose making her voice slightly nasal.

Sire got her answer a moment later when Grun shot out of the dust cloud. His uniform was sliced through in places, but his skin was unbroken, and had turned from tanned pale to a dark brown. "Not good enough," he answered with a grin. Ignoring her swings from her razor-edged fans that sparked off of his hide, he stepped inside her guard, and drove his fist into her gut with brutal power. Sira's body folded around his arm and she was thrown to the ground again.

"That's Doton: Domu _[Earth Spear]_, a B-rank earth ninjutsu," Tenten observed in disbelief. "Why on earth is that man still a genin? His speed and strength are both high chuunin level."

Ken explained what they'd learned about Grun while Sira struggled to her feet, her opponent again waiting for her to recover with a sadistic grin on his face. The first time Sira got up she fell back to one knee, vomiting blood. Samui appeared to ask her if she wanted to forfeit, but Sira shook her head, managing to rise to her feet once more.

"He's toying with her;" Genma said disapprovingly, "holding back just enough that the proctors can't call the match."

"Come on Sira, you know there's another way to beat him," Ken quietly encouraged the Sand kunoichi. Seeming to reach a similar conclusion, Sira formed new hand signs as she backed away from Grun. In the barren, rocky area where Rahl and Kokai had fought, half a dozen small dust devils sprang up, hurling grit and sand into the air, and Sira leapt back, disappearing into the small maelstrom she had created.

Shaking his head, Grun followed her in, not caring about the miniature sandstorm she'd kicked up. It hadn't reduced visibility enough to obscure her position, and he made straight for her, putting on a burst of speed and swinging at an empty spot a meter to Sira's left. "She got him with a genjutsu!" Ken crowed. Sira, in perfect position to strike, thrust a kunai at Grun's eye, the only part of him not covered by the earth armor.

For a moment it appeared that her trap had been successful, but then Grun's other hand shot up and closed around the real Sira's wrist. He squeezed, and the crack of bones breaking was audible a heartbeat before Sira's scream. Grun turned his head slowly to leer at her as Sira fought in a panic to free her arm from his crushing grasp, tears on her face.

"Better, but still not good enough, sand rat," Grun grated. Then his huge hands latched onto her and lifted the slender girl in the air.

"End the match," Tenten breathed, seeing the dangerous look in Grun's eye. But before Samui or Atsui could say the words, Grun slammed Sira's back down onto his armored knee. The sickening snap of her spine was clearly audible in the near-silent arena, followed by a dull thud as he dropped her to the ground.

A moment too late Atsui and Samui placed themselves between the combatants. "This match is over. Get back to your box," Samui said to Grun, a dangerous look in her eyes.

"Sure," Grun replied with a smirk. "I was done anyways."

"Grun of Iwagakure is the winner," Atsui announced in disgust. Booing from around the arena followed Grun back to his seat, but beyond flipping off the crowd he ignored it, letting his defensive jutsu fade and lapping some more of Sira's blood from his skin where it had spattered him.

Medics as well as Temari, Rahl and Poe clustered around Sira. The battered brunette was conscious, but her legs weren't moving at all, and Sira's cry of despair could be heard as she understood what had happened. "Tch," Genma spat, swishing his senbon. "This exam is getting ugly fast. Nine dead in the Second Round, and five matches into the Final Round we've got a fatality, an attempted murder and a kunoichi whose career is over."

Tenten nodded in agreement, noting that Genma had included his team's lost ninken among the dead. Medical chakra could fix a lot of things, but spinal damage wasn't one of them. It might turn out not to be as bad as it looked, but in all likelihood Sira wouldn't walk again.

"The next match will begin in half an hour," Samui announced once Sira had been removed from the arena.

"Are you ready to go?" Tenten asked Ken, hoping he wasn't still distracted by Amaya's injury. To her relief she saw nothing but hard resolve in the red head's expression.

"I will win," Ken said with certainty. "Grun's unyouthful cruelty must be stopped in the next set."

Tenten didn't let the stab of fear in her heart at the thought of any of her students facing Grun show on her face, and pushed away the uncharitable hope that Rahl, Mori or whoever won the last match would be the next chosen to face the dangerous Rock genin.


	16. Final Round – Part 3

**Chapter 16: Final Round – Part 3**

* * *

Half an hour later, Ken and Kari took to the field. The dark-skinned girl with long, unruly crimson hair under the bandanna of her hitai-ate glared at Ken with golden eyes, the edges of which were reddened, suggesting to Ken that she had been crying recently. _She looks about the same as I feel_, Ken reflected. His chest ached every time he thought of Amaya, and he longed to go see her. But first he had to win this fight.

"That Uchiha bitch just had to humiliate Soren, didn't she," Kari spat across the ring. "It wasn't enough to win; she had to sabotage him too?"

Ken felt his own anger surge. "Don't you dare blame Amaya for your teammate's cowardice! He deserves worse than what he got, trying to murder his opponent from behind after the match was over!"

"You're right," Kari shot back with venom. "He should have put a knife in her back later, when there were fewer witnesses."

"Rein in those hot tempers, both of you," Atsui interrupted, arriving ringside.

"Cool down and listen up," Samui added. "Are you two ready to go?" Ken nodded. Hate burning in her eyes, Kari drew a kunai and hurled it into the clay. A hush fell over the arena.

The death challenge was like a bucket of cold water on Ken's rising temper and he shook his head, grateful for the calm and focus. "Pick up your weapon. I'm not going to kill you," he said firmly.

"Coward," she spat, making no move to retrieve her kunai. Ken didn't respond.

Atsui shook his head in resignation. "All right, begin!"

Kari's lightning chakra, fed by her anger, surged around her as her hands flew through signs. "Raiton: Kandenshi!" _[Electric Death]_ she yelled, extending a glowing palm towards her opponent.

Ken wasn't as fast with hand signs, but his was a simpler jutsu, so he finished at the same time Kari did, biting into the pad of his thumb once he finished the last hand sign. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" _[Summoning Technique]_

A cloud of smoke erupted in front of him as dozens of forks of lightning shot from Kari's hand, raking the area Ken was standing in, sizzling and incinerating clay where they touched the ground. A number of arcs penetrated the area Ken occupied, and Kari smirked. "You're dead anyways, motherfucker."

"Such unyouthful language," Ken chided as the smoke cleared, revealing him crouched behind a tall oval shield attached to his left arm that resembled nothing so much as a tortoise's shell, each segment an iridescent green save for one above where it was strapped to his arm that was transparent. The scowling face of a tortoise was painted in red on the lower half of the shell. "The fires of my youth still burn quite brightly."

Ken had never been so honored in his life as when Maito Gai and the crimson tortoise Ningame had found him worthy to sign the tortoise summoning contract, the second to do so after Gai himself. Ken's natural chakra capacity wasn't yet large enough to summon a battle-worthy tortoise, so his training with his sensei's sensei before the Chuunin Exam had focused on summoning and learning how to use Guzo _[Graven Image]_, one of the sacred tools of the tortoises. The shield solved one of the main weaknesses of his combat style, allowing him to close with ranged opponents without sustaining injury. The incredibly hard shell had fully protected him from Moegi's fire ninjutsu, and it seemed to be just as effective against lightning.

Ken was impressed with the power of Kari's opening jutsu, and noted that she was breathing hard after releasing it. Unwilling to wait and see if she had more tricks like that up her sleeve, he charged her. Cursing, she took off running on a course perpendicular to his, wisely trying to stay away from him. She fired off a single lightning strike as she ran, and Ken deflected it off of Guzo's shimmering surface.

Carrying Guzo, Ken wasn't as fast as he was unencumbered. Kari managed to get some distance between them, sprinting out onto the pond. Ken followed her out, and wasn't surprised when she turned on him, forming another jutsu. "Dodge this, asshole," she growled before slapping a palm down on the water's surface. "Raiton: Hiroihibana!" _[Wide Spark]_

Ken jumped into the air as the pond's whole surface lit up with crackling electricity. That didn't solve the problem of his inevitable landing in the electrified water, but slipping Guzo off his arm and under his feet did. The shell hit the water at an angle and Ken kept his balance, riding the shield like a surfboard for several meters and creating a spray of water that drenched Kari. Sputtering, she lost control of her jutsu. Ken loosened the training weights on his arms with the flick of a wrist and then swung them forward with all his strength. The lead-filled bands, each weighing fifteen kilograms, flew at Kari as she wiped water from her eyes. One hit her left forearm with a 'crack' of breaking bone, while the other hit her in the stomach. Her golden eyes became pained, and her breath left her in an explosive rush.

Using Guzo as a springboard once his momentum was spent Ken leapt at Kari, the shield disappearing in a puff of smoke as it returned to the realm of the tortoises. Kari looked up just in time to take a spinning kick to the side of the head that sent her flying hard enough to skip off of the water once before landing and starting to sink, out cold. Before she slipped under Ken caught up, scooping her out of the water.

A moment later, Atsui and Samui appeared on the pond's surface near him. "The match is over, kid," Samui said warningly. "Put her down."

"If I did that she would drown," Ken replied calmly before carrying Kari to the edge of the water, careful not to jar the arm he'd just broken. He laid her down gently on the shore before looking at the proctors reproachfully. "I am not a shinobi of Iwagakure. A defeated opponent has nothing to fear from me."

Samui shook her head in bemusement. "Isamu Ken of Konohagakure is the winner!" she announced to the audience.

Ken bowed slightly to the proctors. "Thank you. Please excuse me," he said before heading for the arena exit closest to the hospital.

* * *

That evening, Ken and Kaede were away getting dinner while Tenten sat by Amaya's bedside. The Uchiha girl hadn't woken up yet; the Hokage's healers had done what they could. She was breathing on her own and an assessment of any nerve damage would have to wait until she regained consciousness.

Tenten had stayed for the last match only because someone had to gauge the abilities of the last pair, and her genin were all at the hospital. Lorn and Poe's match had been the longest of the first round by far, a cerebral battle that had covered most of the arena before it ended. Tenten sensed that Poe, the quiet puppeteer, might have won on any other day, but his heart obviously wasn't in the fight. He was preoccupied with his crippled teammate, and it showed. In the end, Lorn managed to blow up both of Poe's puppets, and the Sand genin conceded the fight.

As a fellow aficionado of blowing things up, Tenten could tell Lorn was a budding genius when it came to demolitions, but she'd spent enough time teaching her genin a healthy respect for the capabilities of explosives that she was confident they could handle the Mist bomber.

In any other circumstance Tenten would have been ecstatic; all three of her students had defeated their opponents easily and progressed to the second set. Three of the eight remaining genin were hers. But with Amaya coming close to death at the hands of her defeated opponent, the exam's significance seemed lost on Tenten now.

When someone knocked on the hospital room's open door Tenten rose from her seat, moving past Amaya's bed to see what it was. A shaggy-haired Cloud jounin's tall frame filled the doorway. "Darui," Tenten said in surprise.

While her genin had been fighting their way through the exam's Second Round, Tenten had been busy, too. She'd entered the kenjutsu tournament back in Kumogakure, and had made it to the third tier, defeating two Cloud jounin close to her age before being utterly outclassed by a veteran swordsman from Kirigakure. She'd been the only participating jounin who wasn't from Cloud or Mist, and the only kunoichi as well, so she stood out.

The final match had been between the Mist ninja who had defeated Tenten and Darui himself, and Darui had managed a narrow win. A few curious glances at him during the tournament had ended up with Darui approaching her to offer some pointers, which had turned into an interesting discussion over lunch and a few invitations to social events in Kumogakure afterwards. It let her get to know his mannerisms of movement and speech well enough that she could probably fool someone he knew for a few minutes, but it didn't get her much closer to a sample of his chakra for her perfect henge.

Everything had been very above board, or course. Darui couldn't be seen to be paying too much attention to a foreign kunoichi, and Tenten was very aware that even the appearance of something more between her and the Cloud jounin commander would raise eyebrows among her fellows from Konohagakure when she was playing the part of a recovering trauma victim who shied from the touch of her boyfriend.

After an invitation to a party as his home she'd been able to scope the place out enough to form a few plans; either try to get him drunk at a party and borrow some of his chakra, or break into his apartment and do it while he was sleeping. But both of those plans were riskier than the opportunity that presented itself in Amaya's hospital room, if she had the acting chops to pull it off.

Letting her visible surprise change to anger Tenten clenched her fists, glaring at Darui. When his gaze moved from her to Amaya she palmed a square of paper from her pouch with one of her chakra-stealing seals on it. Then she took a step forward and slapped him across the face, hard. Relying on the pain of the blow to mask the theft, she drew as much chakra from him as she could without being obvious in that moment of contact.

Now she just had to sell it. "Get out," she grated venomously. "How dare you come here?" Forcing tears into her eyes, a useful skill for a kunoichi, she accelerated her breathing, looking every bit the part of an emotionally distraught female.

Darui stiffened, his expression angry for a moment before fading back to practiced neutrality. Tenten had a few things working in her favor. Darui was another member of the large clan in Kumogakure that included Omoi and Soren, so it wasn't unreasonable that she'd take offense at his presence, and he didn't know Tenten well enough to realize that she had better control over her emotions than that. She watched his anger fade, replaced by hurt and disappointment. "My apologies," he murmured. "I should have sent a messenger to deliver this," he said before handing Tenten a sealed envelope, turning on his heel and leaving the room.

When he was gone Tenten sighed in relief, carefully pocketing the precious seal that now held a small amount of Darui's chakra. Unlike the instant transfer seals she usually used, this one would store the stolen chakra until she needed it. After that she opened the envelope, her face stilling into a blank mask when she read it.

* * *

Ken and Kaede returned shortly thereafter, and Tenten departed to get some dinner of her own. But before she did that she left the hospital and headed up several terraces, close to the lip of the crater. Using the streets instead of the rooftops, and seeing other shinobi do the same was a novel experience, but the terrace structure of Sky City meant that the next roof was up in addition to over, and even chakra-boosted muscles had limits.

Tenten stopped on the edge of the temple district of Sky City. It was already after dark and the square lined with shrines and churches was virtually deserted. With a cautious look around to make sure no one from Konohagakure was around, Tenten slipped into the temple of Jashin, the Lord of Justice.

Once through the open gate of the outer wall Tenten reached a raked gravel courtyard. It appeared deserted, but Tenten could feel eyes on her as she crossed the empty space. Jashin's was a martial order, and the warrior monks were every bit as deadly as a samurai or shinobi. The temple was far better defended than it appeared. When she reached the ornate red doors that opened into the temple proper, a middle aged man with a shaved head wearing plain black robes with a red sash was waiting. With a slight bow, he inquired, "What brings you to the home of our lord Jashin, young shinobi?"

"I was hoping to mediate in Jashin's presence tonight and pray that justice is found for someone close to me."

The older man nodded gravely. "Of course; Jashin's temple is open to all who seek him." He opened one of the ornate doors and bid her enter. Tenten kicked off her sandals by the doorway, and headed inside. The temple's main room had a high ceiling with red marble columns around the edge of the room. Tenten's stocking feet whispered across the pale wood of the floor, polished to a shine by countless generations of initiates to Jashin's order.

Most temples dedicated to a god or spirit had a statue in the deity's image, but Jashin's temples did not. His monks and priests taught that Jashin's face was that of his followers, and that anyone who sought justice and fought for those who could not fight for themselves could wear Jashin's face for a moment. Behind the altar of red stone was a mural depicting the black-robed followers of Jashin doing battle with the forces of darkness.

Approaching the altar for a moment, Tenten reached into a pocket and removed three copper coins, dropping them in the offerings bowl one at a time. Finding a suitable spot after that, Tenten sat down on the wooden floor, letting her eyes close and breathing slow. Some meditation would probably be beneficial, although she wasn't going to pray to Jashin.

Shinobi, who served village and coin, had a complicated relationship with Jashin and rarely worshipped him. A ninja might be the instrument of justice one month, wiping out bandits plaguing isolated villages or bringing in a wanted criminal for his bounty, but on the next mission be tasked with the assassination of a person who had done nothing wrong other than making themselves a problem to someone in power.

Still, a chance to calm her mind and let her worries bleed away turned out to be a blessing, and Tenten was feeling better after a stressful day when she received a light tap on the shoulder. "The abbot will see you now," she was informed by a young monk, close to her age. Nodding, Tenten rose to her feet and followed the monk through a doorway off to the side and into the far more utilitarian living quarters of the monks. Three copper coins deposited in a temple of Jashin's offering bowl as she had was a signal that the depositor needed to send a message through the order or request a favor in Hidan's name; he'd taught it to her before she left to begin her mission in Konohagakure.

Tenten's guide led her to a door slightly more ornate than the others before knocking. "Come in," a faint voice answered from inside. The young monk opened the door for her before bowing and departing. Tenten stepped inside, finding herself in a simple, dimly lit room with a writing desk, a bookcase, a cot and a low table with a few cushions around it. Sitting at the table were two men. One was an elderly monk with elaborately carved prayer beads around his neck in addition to the black robes. The other was a familiar figure in black robes with red clouds.

"Hidan!" Tenten said in delighted surprise as the holy man rose to his feet with a smile.

"Hello, Tenten. It's good to see you." Tenten hugged him, comforted by the soothing feeling of his divine chakra. When she drew back, she was surprised to find that her cheeks were damp; she'd thought she was done crying. "Something's troubling you," Hidan acknowledged. "Come, sit with us. I hadn't expected to see you so soon."

Tenten wiped her face. "I hadn't expected you to be here in person, but so much the better. I have everything I need to carry out the mission you gave me. Give me a when and a where, and I will deliver." Even deep in Jashin's temple Tenten's natural caution lead her to keep the report vague. Hidan would understand that she had gained the information and chakra needed to impersonate Darui, and stood ready to lure Kumogakure's jinchuuriki into their trap.

Hidan waved a hand in dismissal as they sat down. "That's good news, but it's not why your emotions are in turmoil. Tell me what's wrong, Tenten."

So Tenten told him about the day's matches. "I feel terrible," she concluded. "I know I can't protect them from everything, as Genma says. They're all talented genin. But they're here because I needed a reason to be in Kumogakure, and when it looked like Amaya was going to die because of that… it felt like my heart was being torn out," Tenten pressed a hand to her chest.

"I understand how you feel, Tenten," Hidan said soothingly. "Your fellow jounin were essentially correct, however. The fault here lies not with you. If anyone among us is to blame it is Sasori and Leader-sama, for placing you in this position. But while they acted for the greater good, the same cannot be said of Orochimaru and his peers. The increasingly bloody nature of the Chuunin Exams is just one symptom of the poison that the kages have infected their villages with. There hasn't been another exam like the one five years ago, at least, but that's mostly just because the jinchuuriki have all come of age now."

Tenten shuddered at the memory. That ill-fated exam in Kirigakure had been Team Gai's first. After the First Round debacle of Naruto and Gaara losing control of their bijuu and slaughtering half of the proctors, Neji and Lee had carried the team through the Second Round that year. Tenten had been defeated with embarrassing ease by an older kunoichi from Iwagakure named Kurotsuchi. Rock Lee had wound up facing Namikaze Naruto and had almost died from his injuries in that fight; of the three of them only Neji had been promoted to chuunin that year.

Tenten sighed. "I'm proud of all of them, of course. But I'm worried about Amaya, and the possibility of one of my students having to fight Grun."

"You would be a poor teacher if you didn't worry about your students, young shinobi," the elderly abbot said. "My brothers and I feel the same apprehension and pain when one of our young monks leaves the temple for the first time to carry out Jashin's will. Many do not return, and when they do not it leaves a wound on the heart that never truly heals. That boy who guided you here will leave on his first taking in the morning. I do not know if these old eyes will see him again, and even if I do the weight of the lives he will have taken will change him. But the greater tragedy would be to have never known him, or to make him less than he is by sheltering him from challenge and adversity. Do you see?"

Tenten inclined her head, "Yes, revered one. Thank you."

Hidan rose to his feet. "I'm sure you are anxious to return to your student, Tenten. I will walk you out."

Tenten got up, and together they bid the abbot farewell before following Hidan out of the living quarters.

When they were alone, Hidan spoke. "Once the exam is over, return to Kumogakure as quickly as you can. It would be best if you arrived before Darui. Once you return wait for nightfall and bring your target down into the sewers. We will wait for you in the tunnels and be done with this affair."

Tenten nodded. "I understand. I won't fail you."

Hidan walked her back to the door, where she reclaimed her sandals. They said their goodbyes, and then Tenten left. She stopped at a late night food stand to grab a bento box before heading back to the hospital.

* * *

When Tenten returned to Amaya's room, Ken and Kaede had been joined by a new arrival, whom they eyed uncertainly as she examined Amaya in some detail, specialized medical equipment laid out on a side table.

"Sakura!" Tenten said with some surprise. "I didn't know you were in Kumogakure!"

Haruno Sakura paused in her work to nod to Tenten. "I wasn't. One of Uchiha Fugaku's hawks found me in the Land of Waves about an hour ago carrying a reverse summoning scroll and promise of S-rank pay if I could patch up your girl good as new, so here I am." Her voice was flat, clinical and terse. Explanation complete, she went back to work, hands glowing faintly with green chakra as she probed Amaya's chakra network.

Watching Sakura in profile, Tenten was careful to conceal the pity she felt. Haruno Sakura was a living testimony to the sins of the Hokage and the mess he had made of Konohagakure, but Sakura had never accepted pity, even after everything she had been through.

The first time Tenten had met Sakura, a bubbly, energetic young girl a year behind her at the academy, she had long, flowing pink hair and an irrepressible light in her eyes. Those were gone now, and had been for years. Sakura's jade eyes were analytical, but flat and dead. Her hair was gone as well; she shaved her head by habit. Watching her in profile as she worked, Tenten's eyes traced the ugly scars on Sakura's face and scalp. The girl had been a beauty once, but the ruined face she wore now would appeal to few. The scars numbered nine: deep, straight cuts that still looked fresh even though she'd gotten them three years ago.

Tenten knew how lucky she'd gotten with the jounin sensei she'd been assigned to out of the academy. Maito Gai was in a minority, in that he was a sensei who both looked after his genin and took an interest in training them. Too many jounin in Konohagakure and elsewhere viewed genin as little more than cannon fodder and a means of making money. Most jounin sensei had no qualms about abandoning their genin to die if a mission went sour, viewing the penalty they had to pay their kage for dead students as a fair price for surviving adverse situations. Fewer jounin bothered to spend much time training their genin. Sarutobi Asuma was notorious for that; he tended to take genin from established clans, knowing that their families would handle most of the training for him. Other jounin sensei just didn't much care what happened to genin on their teams who couldn't hack it on their own. That had been Sakura's misfortune when she was assigned to Hatake Kakashi's Team Seven with Uchiha Sasuke and Namikaze Naruto.

It was Tenten's opinion, privately held, that Kakashi should never have been allowed to become a jounin sensei. She granted that Kakashi had been through a lot and served his village well, but when he burned out and retired from ANBU, assigning him to train genin had seemed like a lousy fit. Orochimaru felt differently, as both Naruto and Sasuke had benefited from Kakashi's knowledge when he could be bothered to teach them, but Tenten considered what Kakashi had allowed to happen to Sakura to be unforgivable.

Kunoichi were most vulnerable as genin, and the most in need of a good sensei, both to protect them and teach them how to protect themselves. Kakashi had done neither. He wasn't one of the truly despicable jounin who abused their young charges themselves, but neither had he done anything to protect Sakura when she needed it. Unlike Yamanaka Ino and Hyuuga Hinata, the other two kunoichi she had graduated with, Sakura didn't have a clan to protect her either, so while it was an open secret in Konohagakure that Naruto had raped Sakura repeatedly while they were teamed together, the Hokage's adopted son had never been punished for it. Tenten had never fully trusted Kakashi or Sasuke after learning about that. Either of them could have reined Naruto in, but chose not to.

After a failed suicide attempt at fourteen, Sakura had tried a new tactic to protect herself from Naruto, shaving her head to make herself less attractive to him. It had worked, after a fashion, but she hadn't counted on the Namikaze's sadistic logic that if he couldn't have her, no one would. He'd been the one to cut up her face with the claws that sprouted from his fingers when he tapped the Kyuubi's chakra, creating wounds that no healer could prevent from becoming ugly scars.

The scars were sadly ironic, considering that at eighteen Sakura was now Konohagakure's most accomplished medical ninja. While in the hospital recovering from Naruto's final attack on her, the medics had discovered that Sakura's intellectual bent and chakra control made her a promising candidate to learn medical ninjutsu. Since even Orochimaru couldn't justify leaving her on Team Seven a day longer, he handed her over to the medical corps. Sakura had soaked up the knowledge eagerly and displayed a natural talent for healing, studying the written teachings of Senju Tsunade and mastering techniques that medics three times her age couldn't handle. She'd also been the only ninja of Konohagakure to ever unlock the secret behind Tsunade's fearsome strength-augmenting jutsu and put it to use.

_There but for Kami's grace and Maito Gai's kindness go I_, Tenten reflected. Gai had made sure she was safe until she was accomplished enough to protect herself. She had made the unusual choice of becoming a sensei as soon as she made jounin to do the same thing for the next generation of genin, and suspected that Shikamaru had chosen the career for roughly the same reason. Despite his trademark Nara laziness, he didn't shirk on training his students, and he'd earned a few new scars keeping them in one piece.

Tenten had happily taken a team with two kunoichi and a clanless boy on it that no one else had wanted; they were the students she wanted, the ones who needed a sensei who cared. It amused Tenten that, as a rookie sensei, she had wound up with Amaya as a student. She knew that the Uchiha wouldn't have given the girl to her if they'd believed she had much chance of unlocking her sharingan. For all that Amaya's clan claimed that all Uchiha blood was special, their expectations for an orphaned daughter of a prostitute had been low, and it pleased Tenten that Amaya had defied those expectations. Fugaku had to be revising his opinion of the girl; summoning Sakura on short notice was expensive.

After examining Amaya for another fifteen minutes, Sakura leaned back thoughtfully. "It's about what I expected. There's some damage to the chakra network and the peripheral nervous system. Even an underpowered lightning jutsu does nasty things to the body. It's nothing I can't fix, though. With your permission, I'd like to wake her up so I can discuss treatment options with her."

Tenten nodded, and Sakura placed a hand on Amaya's brow, pouring chakra into her. In moments Amaya's eyes fluttered and she woke, grimacing.

"Am I dead?" she asked, voice slightly slurred.

Tenten hugged her with a relieved laugh. "Nope. Sorry, kiddo."

"Yosh! You can't get rid of us that easily!" Ken piped up.

Amaya laughed, which turned into a cough. "Hurts everywhere," she commented.

"Those are your nerves complaining about a killing jolt of electricity," Sakura informed her, moving over the Amaya's IV drip and adding something to it. Moments later some of the tension went out of Amaya's body.

"Thanks. Who're you?" Amaya inquired.

"My name's Sakura. I'm a medical ninja. Your family has hired me to fix you up and make sure there's no lasting damage to your body, which I'm going to do. Before I can start treatment though, I need to know how badly you want to continue competing in the Chuunin Exams."

"What do you mean?" Tenten interjected, looking at Sakura sharply.

"Fugaku told me that they're delaying the second round a day to see if your girl can fight," Sakura explained. "I can tell you that the normal treatment for these injuries involves about three days of chakra therapy and another week of bed rest while she heals. I doubt the Raikage is going to delay the exam that long." Looking back to Amaya, Sakura continued. "I can pursue an alternate course of treatment that will have you in fighting trim in time for your next match, but I can't recommend it."

Amaya, who had been deflated at the news that she couldn't continue, looked at Sakura hopefully. "Why not? What does it involve?"

"I can get the full job done by tomorrow night, but you'll spend most of the next twenty-four hours in a considerable amount of pain, and if you can't follow my instructions during that time, which will involve physical exercise and chakra manipulation, we'll have to stop and go back to the first treatment plan anyways. Personally I'd go with plan A, but the choice is yours." Sakura said with a shrug.

"I'll do it. I want to compete," Amaya replied firmly.

"Amaya…" Tenten said worriedly.

"I want to continue," Amaya insisted. "All I did in that match was catch my opponent in a genjutsu. Is that enough to make sure I get promoted?"

Tenten hesitated. "I don't know. Outclassing an opponent that thoroughly usually means a promotion, but I can't guarantee it."

"Then I want to continue."

Sakura got up. "You all talk it out. I'm getting paid either way. If you're masochistic enough for plan B then there's a rehabilitation room at the end of the hall. Get out of that bed, get dressed and walk to it under your own power and we can get started. Otherwise I'll see you in the morning to start plan A."

"Tell me what happened while I was out. How did the other matches go?" Amaya asked once Sakura left.

Ken and Kaede filled her in, and Amaya shared their shock and anger at what Grun had done to Sira.

"That's great," Amaya said to Ken after he'd told her about his match. "I knew you'd kick her butt." Then she hesitated. "What about… him?" she asked tentatively. No one had to ask who Amaya was referring to.

"We don't know yet," Kaede answered. "You gave him as good as you got."

Tenten cleared her throat. "Actually, we do know." She took the letter Darui had delivered from her pouch. "Soren wasn't hurt very badly; unlike Amaya his elemental affinity was lightning type; his body wasn't damaged as badly. He woke up about an hour after the match."

"So what happens now?" Amaya asked.

"It already has," Tenten answered, handing Amaya the letter. "Soren was executed by the Raikage late this afternoon. Your grandparents were there as the Hokage's witnesses."

All three genin looked shocked. Amaya's eyes scanned the letter. "Executed?"

"The match was over," Tenten said grimly. "Soren attempted to murder you in violation of the Chuunin Exam's truce, which is the responsibility of the host village to ensure. The Raikage didn't have a choice, really, especially not with the Hokage and Uchiha Fugaku both demanding Soren's head." Tenten folded her arms. "Which leads me to one other piece of business: regardless of the treatment plan you choose, you're not to be outside of the presence of a Leaf jounin for the remainder of your time in the Land of Lightning."

"Why?" Amaya asked.

"Soren was a member of the largest clan in Kumogakure; it's not outside the realm of possibility that you'll be blamed for his death by grieving family members. You'll be with Sakura for the treatments, Genma's down the hall with his team, and outside the hospital Shikamaru has agreed to keep an eye on you when I'm not around. I imagine you'll also be seeing more of your grandparents and clan head now that they know you're here."

Amaya made a face at the thought of round the clock babysitters, but nodded reluctantly. Then she looked at Tenten. "I want to continue competing in the exam, sensei," she said firmly. "Rahl only has a one in seven chance of drawing Grun as his opponent, and someone has to deal with him for what he did to Sira."

"I understand you made friends with that poor girl in Sunagakure, but you'll forgive me if I hope that none of you have to fight him," Tenten replied calmly. "That said this choice is yours, Amaya."

Nodding, Amaya yanked the IV needle from her arm and threw back the blanket. "Ken, shoo," she instructed, and her teammate turned beet red before disappearing behind the privacy curtain with a muttered apology as Amaya stripped out of the hospital gown and put on her own clothes. The pain each movement was causing her was written on her face. Amaya's hands shook badly enough that it took her a few tries to get her sandals on, and Tenten shook her head warningly when Kaede moved to help. Amaya had to do this on her own or not at all.

Amaya walked like an arthritic old woman, but she walked, reaching out to lean on the wall every few steps. It took her several minutes, but she made it to the end of the hall and into the rehab room where Sakura was waiting for her. Tenten noticed that Sakura had a large number of acupuncture needles ready, and a massage table set up. Looking up when Amaya entered, Sakura put away the book she'd been reading. "Here's the patient. Okay, let's get started." Glancing at Tenten, Kaede and Ken in the doorway, she added, "You lot can clear out. Come back for her tomorrow evening. If she's not here she'll be back in bed."

"I'll be here," Amaya contradicted.

Sakura gave Amaya a grin she had to have learned from Anko, because the Uchiha girl shivered a bit. "Say that in an hour and maybe I'll believe you." Then Sakura reached the door and closed it.

Putting her hands on Ken and Kaede's shoulders, Tenten steered them towards the exit. "C'mon, let's go get some sleep. If we've got an extra day you two can get some training in tomorrow."

"Can't we stay and cheer Amaya on?" Ken protested.

Tenten shook her head. "I know Sakura, Ken. She has the warm and comforting bedside manner of a cobra. If she says the treatment will be painful she's not exaggerating. Amaya wouldn't want us to see her like that, regardless of whether she succeeds or not. Now let's go get some rest."


	17. Final Round – Part 4

**Chapter 17: Final Round – Part 4**

* * *

Two days later, the Sky City Arena filled with people again, and the eight remaining genin assembled on the arena floor. One each from Sand, Rock and Cloud remained, but they were by far the most dangerous of their respective teams. Rahl simmered with anger as he glared at Grun, the air around the Sand genin visibly distorting in heat waves.

Senne and Lorn of Kirigakure remained from the Mist team, and all three of Tenten's students took the field. The crowd's roar of approval when Amaya had walked out onto the field had been nearly deafening, though there were plenty of angry faces in the Kumogakure crowd, too.

When the clock struck noon, C stepped to the front of the Raikage's box. "Today we will witness four elimination matches among the remaining eight genin. Match selection will now begin."

Senne's picture appeared on half of the giant monitor, and the other half cycled through the remaining genin to determine her opponent. "First Match: Senne of Kirigakure versus Isamu Ken of Konohagakure!" C announced. Ken looked dismayed at the pairing, while Senne watched him apprehensively, remembering how easily he'd taken down the last ranged specialist he fought.

The monitor flickered again. "Second Match: Mori of Kumogakure versus Lorn of Kirigakure!" Lorn barely acknowledged the selection, busy fiddling with what looked like a grenade. Mori looked at the unkempt Mist bomber and shook his head in resignation.

"Third Match: Aburame Kaede of Konohagakure versus Grun of Iwagakure!"

A hush fell over the arena. Watching from the Konohagakure box, Tenten felt her blood turn to ice, and her fingers clenched on the railing until her knuckles turned white. Down on the field, Kaede didn't react visibly to the pairing, while Grun laughed in delight.

"Damn, Kumogakure is being good to me!" Grun declared, licking his lips while leering at Kaede. "All the kunoichi I can eat! Fel's going to be so happy when I ruin you, bug girl." Rahl slammed his fist into his palm in frustration, and Ken and Amaya didn't look much happier.

"Last Match: Rahl of Sunagakure versus Uchiha Amaya of Konohagakure!" Amaya and Rahl looked at each other unhappily. Instead of facing Grun, they were going to be forced to try and eliminate one another. The crowd roared in approval of the pairing however, plainly anxious to see two genin with feared kekkei genkai face off.

"First match participants to the ring, everyone else back to your boxes," Atsui instructed as he and Samui took to the field. Ken and Senne took their places, while the others dispersed.

When Kaede and Amaya returned to the Konohagakure box, Kaede sighed at the twin looks of concern on Tenten and Amaya's faces. "Don't worry," she stated off the bat. "I heard what happened to Sira. I'm not going to let him get close to me, and I have a few ideas about getting through that armor of his. For now let's focus on Ken."

"Are you two ready for a hot match?" Atsui inquired. When they both nodded and neither of them went for a kunai he smiled in relief. "Then begin!"

Both genin took off running, Senne towards the pond and Ken on an intercept course to prevent her from reaching it. Divested of both Guzo and his training weights Ken was much faster, and Senne scowled as he got between her and the water, forcing her away from the pond. Senne retaliated by hurling senbon at him while she retreated. Ken dodged the first volley and then the second, only to feel pain shoot up his leg. Looking down he saw a trio of senbon sticking out of his right thigh, then quickly took two more to the left arm. _I dodged all of those!_ Ken thought indignantly. Then he blinked. _Right, genjutsu._ "Kai!"

Senne's next throw moved in midair, as did Senne herself. He ducked under the real senbon then shifted position to block Senne, who had been trying to get around him and back to the pond. _Hope these aren't poisoned. _Grimacing he yanked the senbon loose, ignoring the small wounds, and kept alert for any new illusions.

A minute later he'd herded Senne out into the barren section of rock and sand, and she was running out of room. Growling something uncomplimentary about red headed Konohagakure genin under her breath, Senne formed a few hand signs. "Suiton: Mizu no Muchi!" _[Water Whip]_ Chakra converted into water poured from her lips and into her hand, forming a long, thin tendril of water that she gripped in one hand.

Ken had trained against Tenten-sensei's bullwhip more than once, so he approached Senne warily, making a feint inside her range to see how good she was with it. She cracked the flail of water at him and he ducked out of range, but he hadn't counted on the weapon being liquid; with a smirk Senne increased its length mid-swing and sliced through jumpsuit and skin, leaving a long, shallow gash on his ribs. He danced back a few steps, and found himself on the defensive as she advanced on him, the lash of water whirling as she interspersed more senbon throws while keeping him at a distance.

Ken quickly discovered that Senne was better than Kari had been at dictating range in a fight. The senbon weren't hard to avoid, but they kept him off balance, and the whip was hard to see and harder to avoid, becoming longer when he tried to retreat and shorter when he tried to get inside its range. After earning two more cuts, one across the cheek and another down his bicep that was bleeding at a worrying rate, Ken was forced to admit that he needed a new strategy. _Damn it, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this until I used it on Grun,_ Ken lamented, before taking a deep breath and tapping the Gate of Opening. In an instant his strength increased five-fold, and he pushed that power into speed, circling Senne at a rapid clip.

Eyes narrowing in concentration, Senne did her best to follow his accelerated movements, waiting until he lunged at her from behind to whirl and slice the whip at his neck, but the weapon passed through the blurring image of Ken, and as Senne's eyes widened in surprise a second Ken, this one moving lower to the ground, fired a kick up into her torso that threw her into the air.

Ken leapt into the air after Senne, mirroring the arc of her trajectory, his body behind hers. The bandages around his arms loosened and wrapped around her before she could attack again, pinning her arms to her sides.

"You… know genjutsu?" Senne gasped in disbelief, unable to comprehend how a brawler like Ken could have gotten one past her; she'd never been suckered that badly, not even by her teachers!

"Sorry," Ken murmured as they reached the apex of their arc. Ken couldn't perform a genjutsu to save his life, but he saw no need to tell Senne. It had actually been an afterimage resulting from his high speed movement. Lee-sensei could produce several at once; Ken could only move fast enough to make one false image, but that had been enough. He yanked Senne down violently, spinning their bodies as he aimed her head for the ground, picking a patch of sand rather than a rock, which would probably kill her. "Front Lotus!"

As they fell he used Senne's back as a springboard, leaping free a moment before impact. Sand flew into the air as she hit the ground. Landing at the edge of the small crater in the sand he heard a groan. Almost impressed that she was still conscious, he didn't waste any time dropping into the crater on top of her, wrapping one arm around her neck from behind, trapping her dominant arm in a lock and dropping his knee on the other arm to pin it.

"Are you going to concede, or do I have to choke you out?" Ken murmured in her ear.

"Bastard," Senne growled, struggling to free herself, reach a senbon, make a hand sign, anything. "You are so dead when I get loose- gah!" She cried in pain when he wrenched her arm out of its socket with a firm jerk and started applying pressure to her throat. "All right, I give, I give!" she choked out. "Get off of me!"

"All right, the match is over," Atsui announced nearby, and Ken let go of Senne, who staggered to her feet unsteadily. From the unfocused look in her eyes Ken guessed she was probably concussed from the Front Lotus. The dislocated arm, hanging limp, was obviously hurting her. He found himself impressed with the Mist genin; few kunoichi got up that quickly after taking hits like that.

"Isamu Ken of Konohagakure is the winner!" Atsui announced.

Bowing to the proctor Ken turned to go when Senne spoke up. "Hey, Leaf boy." He turned back warily, but Senne just pointed to her limp right arm. "Can you pop this back into the socket for me? You got it out easily enough."

Ken blinked. "Wouldn't you rather have the medics do it?"

Senne shook her head and then winced, the motion probably doing nothing for the pain in her head. "No, if I let them at me I won't get back in time for Lorn's fight."

Nodding in acceptance, Ken stepped up next to her and got a grip on her bicep. "Ready?"

"Just do it." In one motion he shoved the arm back into the socket. "Son of a bitch that hurts!" Moving the arm gingerly once he was done, Senne winced. "Thanks." When Ken took a step back, she looked up. "Hold on. Let me put something on that before you bleed out," she said, nodding to the bleeding cuts from her whip. Ken watched with surprise as she got out some clean gauze and some salve and efficiently cleaned and wrapped his arm and put pressure bandages on his cheek and ribs. "There you go,"

"Ahh… thank you," Ken said.

"No problem," she said. "I want a rematch sometime; just… minus the dropping on the head part next time? Unlike taijutsu specialists I actually use my brain," she said cheekily.

Ken laughed. "I would be happy to test the fires of our youth again. Be well," he replied before they headed back to their boxes.

When he got back to the Konohagakure box, Ken hesitated at the sight of three smirking females looking at him. He was wondering if he should start running when Amaya spoke up. "That was kinky, wrapping Senne up like that and pinning her. Did you cop a feel when you had a chance?" she asked playfully.

"I would never do something so unyouthful!" Ken protested.

"What a shame. Senne's cute and she fills out that kimono pretty well," Amaya teased him. "I think she likes you, too, patching you up like that. Did you get her number?"

Ken felt his face getting hot, and Amaya and Kaede laughed.

"Not nice," Tenten chided Amaya. "Ken I'm proud of how chivalrously you've conducted yourself. Kami knows this exam could use more gentlemen and fewer... that," she said in distaste, waving a hand at the Iwagakure box. "Congratulations on another win."

"Next match begins in half an hour!" Atsui announced.

* * *

Lorn and Mori took the field for the second match with Samui presiding. "Okay, are you two ready?" the busty blonde inquired.

"Sure," Mori answered, drawing his tanto, holding it in front of him, level to the ground.

"What? Sorry, I was distracted. What was the question?" Lorn asked innocently, looking up from the cylindrical device he had been fiddling with since stepping into the ring.

"Are you ready to begin the match?" Samui asked again through gritted teeth.

"Oh, yeah, go ahead, whenever," Lorn said with a distracted wave of his hand.

"Why me?" Samui muttered quietly before stepping back. "Begin!"

BOOM!

The moment the word left her mouth, Mori of Kumogakure vanished in a cloud of fire and smoke as an explosion shook the arena. The Cloud genin's battered form flew up in the air a moment later, clearing the cloud of smoke and then falling to the ground. He was singed and out cold, and a spreading pool of blood formed around his legs, which were covered with shrapnel wounds.

Samui just stared in shock for a moment at Lorn who had a look of studied innocence on his face and was casually hiding the detonator he'd been fiddling with behind his back. Shaking herself, Samui went to check on Mori, verifying that he was clearly unable to fight. "Medics to the field!" she yelled and then stomped over to Lorn. "What was that?" she growled.

"Landmine," Lorn answered the angry blonde calmly.

"When did you plant it?" she inquired icily.

"Last night. Building this size has a huge maintenance crew. One missing uniform isn't noticed quickly," he explained, every trace of the absent-mindedness he had feigned gone.

"That's-"

"Against the rules? No it isn't," Lorn guessed, taking a small blue book from his pouch. "This is a copy of this year's exam rules from the Kumogakure library. Nowhere in here does it say that a competitor can't leave weapons in the arena before the match."

Samui sighed. "Yes, all right. Lorn of Kirigakure is the winner!" she announced before glancing back at the Mist bomber. "How did you know last night which side of the ring your opponent would be on?"

"I didn't," he replied innocently. "There's a mine under my feet too. That's why I had to adjust the detonator." Samui, who was standing right next to him, took an involuntary step back and glared at Lorn.

"Get rid of it before the next match starts," she said before stalking off.

Lorn shrugged. "Sure," he said before taking a trowel from his belt and hacking at the packed clay to retrieve the undetonated mine.

Watching from the Konohagakure box, Kaede looked thoughtful. "I'm going to go find a copy of that book," she declared before getting up. "I'll be back in time for my fight."

* * *

_Author's Note: Short update here, didn't want to leave everyone in suspense about the second set selections while I write the last two fights._


	18. Final Round – Part 5

**Chapter 18: Final Round – Part 5**

* * *

"Third Match contestants please report to the ring," Atsui announced, his voice echoing through the arena.

Grun of Iwagakure left his village's participants box, where he had been sitting next to a slight and sickly-looking woman with mud-brown hair who was apparently his sensei. Fel was still in the hospital recovering from the wounds Kaede had given him, while Chen's body had already been sent back to the Rock village.

When Grun reached the clay ring, Amaya noticed that he had made some additions to his apparel. In addition to the standard earth-toned tunic, vest and slacks he had been wearing, he now sported a skin-tight brown half mask that covered his ears and nose. His hitai-ate was worn as a bandanna that covered the top of his head and his ears. Resting on his forehead was a pair of heavily tinted goggles.

"He's not as stupid as he looks," Amaya observed. "He's prepared himself to face kikai bugs; he's covered every opening on his face to keep them out."

"Don't for a second make the mistake of thinking that man is stupid at all," Tenten commented. "Just because a man is cruel and misogynistic doesn't mean he's a fool. A man like that makes enemies at every turn. If he's still alive he's not just strong, he's cunning."

"Where is Kaede?" Ken wondered aloud. Their teammate was nowhere to be seen.

Atsui glanced at the Konohagakure box, then at his watch. "The match begins in five minutes," he announced. "Any contestants not in the arena at that time are disqualified."

Grun looked around and shook his head in disappointment. "Did the bug girl run away? That's a shame."

A few more minutes passed. Tenten frowned thoughtfully. Kaede had never been one to quit; none of her genin were. But she wouldn't put it past the Aburame girl to be 'late' to avoid the fight. In truth, Tenten wasn't going to be upset; she'd have suggested forfeiting the match herself if she hadn't known it would hurt Kaede's pride.

Halfway around the arena, on the side bordered by forest, a cheer went up from the crowd, replacing the disappointed murmurs. On one of the monitors, they saw Kaede emerge from an entrance on that side of the arena, running through the trees and emerging a minute later to take her place in the ring.

"Oh good," Grun said with delight. "You didn't chicken out after all."

"You're late," Atsui observed with a frown.

"Apologies proctor, there was a long line outside the ladies' room," Kaede replied evenly, and some laughter trickled through the audience. "I'm ready whenever ugly over there is."

"Let's see who's ugly when I'm done with you," Grun growled, drawing a kunai and tossing it into the ring.

"Put that away," Kaede said with a resigned shake of her head. "Your antics don't frighten me and I'm not interested in killing you."

"I should frighten you, bug girl," Grun replied with menace in his voice, lowering the goggles over his eyes. "I'm going to enjoy your screams."

"Yeah, we're all impressed with what a big man you are," Atsui noted sarcastically. "If the posturing is done, then the match can begin!"

Forming the snake hand sign immediately, Grun's skin darkened to a deep brown. Then he vanished in a swirl of dust, performing an earth-based shunshin as he had against Sira. The result this time was different, however. Grun's fist hit Kaede's face and then passed through it as her body exploded into thousands of kikai bugs that instantly swarmed over Grun.

"When did she substitute a bug clone?" Ken wondered.

Amaya grinned. "I knew Kaede wasn't late. She went to the match through the forest for a reason. She's still there; she sent out the clone before to start the match for her. I bet she read the rules and it doesn't say that you actually have to be in the ring when the match starts, just somewhere in the arena."

The bug clone and swarm of soldiers engulfing him seemed to have surprised Grun, but they didn't seem to be having much of an effect, either. Grun's chest swelled, and then he exhaled a cloud of nasty-looking green gas that quickly surrounded him. The kikai bugs it washed over fell to the clay twitching and dying; the ones that managed to avoid the gas winged away from Grun, abandoning their attack and returning to Kaede, who was watching from the tree's edge.

"Hope you got more than that, bug girl," Grun called, shaking his head as he headed for her. Kaede retreated back into the trees as Grun entered the forested area.

"Don't worry, I'm just getting started," Kaede assured him, emerging from behind a tree trunk standing on a thick branch above and ahead of Grun. "You may want to consider running."

"Your pets don't scare me," Grun shot back, not moving an inch. "Go on, swarm me again. I guarantee you'll run out of insects before I run out of chakra."

"Suit yourself," Kaede said with a shrug, then used a kunai to slice through a bundle of taut ropes next to her. Creaking in the branches above alerted Grun as a log ram swung down at him. He stepped out of its path, only to find a second one coming from a different direction. He jumped past it – and that was when the third swinging log ram hit him in the back in midair and sent him flying, a trajectory that ended when he hit the trunk of a tree Kaede was perched in, a few meters below her. The earth armor saved him from broken bones, but those watching had to imagine that still hurt.

Bouncing off of the trunk on impact Grun fell, but he didn't stop when he hit the ground, which turned out to be a net covered with leaves stretched over a pit. Grun fell into the pit and Kaede cut one more rope, causing the largest log yet, hanging vertically above the pit, to drop down on top of Grun before he could recover.

When the blunt end of the log hit the bottom of the pit the impact triggered the handful of explosive tags attached to it, and the contained explosion shook the entire forested area, shaking leaves loose from the trees as the half of the log that was still in one piece shot back up out of the hole and fell to the ground.

After a moment of stunned silence among the audience, cheering filled the arena.

"How did she get that ready in time?" Amaya wondered aloud. Kaede was the team's trap expert, but all of that should have taken hours to set up. Glancing at Tenten, Amaya saw a smug expression on her sensei's face. "You?"

Tenten nodded. "I made the storage seals for Kaede on the condition that she not use that trap unless it was against a foreign genin. All she really had to do was put the seals on the right branches and release them."

In an arena full of shinobi and with a barrier separating her from the field Tenten couldn't pick out chakra signatures, but when Atsui didn't call the match and Kaede didn't relax, she sighed. "It's not over," Tenten observed with regret.

As Ken and Amaya looked at their sensei in disbelief, Grun rose from the ground behind Kaede's tree. His armor was cracked and smoking, chipped away in a few places, and his hitai-ate, goggles and face mask were gone, but he was still alive and looking _pissed_. He pounded one massive fist into the tree's trunk, and the bole splintered. He followed up with a jump kick higher up and the tree fell. Kaede was moving as soon as he hit the tree the first time, leaping to another tree. Grun pursued, blurring as he ran up the listing trunk of the tree he'd just felled and jumping off of it to land on the same branch Kaede had fled to.

Tenten's breath hitched as Grun got into melee range, and his fist flew towards Kaede, but the Aburame girl was ready for him and a pair of weapons the length of her forearm dropped into her hands from the voluminous sleeves of her coat. Each was a metal rod with a curved blade folded down against its length, and Kaede used one to bat aside Grun's fist so it flew past her head while squeezing the hilt of the other, causing the folded blade to fly up as she launched a riposte that sliced through a weakened section of the earth armor on his chest and opened a long, thin cut.

Grun took a step back in surprise, examining Kaede's unusual weapons, and she flicked the second blade open in the pause. The collapsible sickles favored by the Aburame clan almost resembled climbing axes, but with longer blades. The blade could be folded to rest against the hilt to be concealed in the sleeves of their overcoats. Shaded eyes intent, Kaede took an odd-looking stance that resembled the predatory insect that her clan's Mantis style kenjutsu was named after.

The Aburame were known best as medium to long range fighters, using bugs and traps to strike down opponents from a distance, often without ever revealing themselves. But when the clan's members had to fight at close range, the sickles came out and body parts started flying. Grun had the advantage of size, reach and armored skin, but Kaede had been fighting larger opponents all her life, while he was plainly frustrated by the unfamiliar weapons and the angled deflections and lightning-fast strikes with both the tips and blades of the sickles that made up the Mantis style.

Kaede did an impressive job for a genin who had started training in the Mantis style just three months earlier, but even with Grun's armor compromised she couldn't land a serious blow, and after he'd had a minute to get used to her moves, the outcome was inevitable. He feinted a block and then simply wrapped his armored hands around the blades of Kaede's sickles and wrenched them out of her hands, dropping them to the forest floor. Before she could jump away he grabbed her wrists and lifted her up, yanking her smaller frame taut and pulling, intending to tear her arms from their sockets.

Kaede cried out in pain as the first shock hit her shoulders, muscle and tendon screaming in protest. But before he could tear her arms off she folded her thumbs against her palms and pulled in with all of her strength. Grun was so much more powerful than her that it might not have made a difference save for the fact that he was gripping her wrists over her coat, and Aburame coats had a slick inner lining of waterproofing, both to protect the hive and to prevent the material from obstructing anything moving through it. So when Kaede pulled in, she heard two 'pops' and felt pain shoot up her arms as she dislocated her thumbs pulling her hands through Grun's grasp and into her coat, but she was free. The Rock genin blinked in surprise as Kaede dropped out of her coat entirely and scrambled back away from Grun leaving him holding an empty garment.

Grun tossed the coat aside, and as he advanced Kaede unleashed her hive. Without her coat Kaede just had her loose, short sleeved shirt on, so the pores on her arms that opened up and started disgorging soldier bugs were clearly visible. Grun sneered at the cloud of bugs covering him and took a deep breath, preparing to unleash more gas. But he'd gotten too close to Kaede, and she managed to kick him in the stomach, interrupting the jutsu. She paid for the kick when his lightning-fast hands snatched her right foot and twisted it, breaking her ankle with a snap of bone that drew an agonized scream from Kaede.

With his armor cracked and his head protection gone Grun was vulnerable to the kikai bugs, which started biting him, finding openings and draining chakra, but after breaking Kaede's ankle all he had to do was stagger back a few steps and belch out his cloud of poison, felling more kikai bugs and forcing the rest to retreat. As the bugs retreated Kaede raised her right arm, taking careful aim despite the pain. When Grun emerged from the poison cloud, Kaede slammed her left hand down on the back of the device that encircled most of her right forearm.

Kaede's family was far from the political center of the Aburame clan. She called the clan heir Shino 'uncle', but their relationship was more distant than that. Her father was, however, one of the wealthiest individuals in the clan, a civilian merchant. He'd never possessed the chakra levels to survive adopting a hive as a boy, but he was one of the shrewdest minds in promoting the clan's business interests. So when his only daughter graduated from the shinobi academy he'd gone to the shop of a former clock maker in Konohagakure turned ninja tool maker and obtained a special holdout weapon for her.

Kaede mentally offered thanks to her father as the compact but powerful spring-loaded mechanism in the band on her arm propelled half a dozen small senbon at Grun's face with force exceeding that most shinobi could produce with a throw. Four of the senbon bounced off of his hardened skin. One pierced through his cheek and into his mouth. The last buried half its length in his left eye.

For a moment the massive Rock genin froze and Kaede allowed herself to hope that the senbon had entered his brain, but while he bellowed in pain a moment later he didn't fall and there was pure murder gleaming in his right eye when he looked at her. The senbon launcher had been her last option, so as Grun charged her Kaede yelled, "I concede!"

For a heartbeat, as Grun's frame filled her vision and his fist descended she wondered if she'd been too late. Then Atsui appeared between them in a blur and planted a kick in Grun's chest that knocked him on his ass. "Your opponent has conceded the match," the Cloud jounin said firmly as Grun got back to his feet, gingerly cradling the left side of his face, blood flowing between his fingers.

"Kill you… I'll kill you, bug bitch!" Grun bellowed, taking a threatening step forward.

"You've won; the match is over. Now go get those wounds looked at by the medics," Atsui told him. Grun took another step, and in a movement too fast to see, Atsui's katana was in his hand and cracking with electricity, its tip centimeters from Grun's throat. "Give me an excuse, boy," the Cloud jounin said quietly in a voice heavy with menace.

Whatever Grun saw in Atsui's eyes, he backed down, giving Kaede a look of pure hate that promised future retribution. "Grun of Iwagakure is the winner!" Atsui announced. "Medics to the field!"

"Kaede lost," Ken said, dejected. They watched as medical ninja helped Kaede down from the tree where the battle had been fought and onto a stretcher, working on her broken ankle and dislocated thumbs.

"Kaede survived, Ken," Tenten disagreed. "She gave as good as she got against an opponent with five years on her. She weakened him for his next opponent; that eye probably can't be fixed at all and certainly not in time for tomorrow's matches. She also didn't make Sira's mistake; she conceded the match once she exhausted her bag of tricks."

Ken thought about that. "You're right, sensei." He drummed his fingers on the railing for a moment. "Me, Lorn and Grun. Make sure you're number four, eh Amaya?"

Absorbed in Kaede's fight, Amaya had forgotten for a little while that she was fighting Rahl next. "I'll do what I can," she said dubiously. Not much had changed since she'd spied on Rahl in the snow during the Second Round and reflected that she really didn't want to fight him at full power.

"The last match begins in half an hour!" Atsui announced.

* * *

When Amaya faced Rahl across the clay ring he was wrapped up in his bandages once more, his dark eyes the only part of his face visible. "Ken came over to talk to me right after the match selection, you know," Rahl said lightly. "He said if I hurt you he'd kick my ass."

Amaya reddened, glaring over her shoulder at the Konohagakure box. "I'm sorry Rahl, he shouldn't have done that."

Rahl shrugged. "I thought it was sweet, actually," he said, laughing when Amaya's face got redder.

When Samui asked if they were ready, Rahl held up a hand. "One moment, please," Then he looked at Amaya, careful not to meet her eyes. "Amaya, I'm sorry. I have to kill Grun for what he did, and that means I have to win this match. I can't hold back."

Amaya felt her stomach tighten. This was Rahl's way of telling her that he wouldn't go easy with the Scorch Release. "Do what you have to, Rahl," she said heavily. "I'm ready," she said to Samui.

Rahl nodded to the blonde. "Begin!" Samui called out.

Rahl extended one finger. "Scorch Release: Heat Ray!" With the sharingan Amaya could track the movement of the thin red beam, but even with that dodging it was absurdly difficult, since Rahl could just move his finger to track her position. She wouldn't have been able to avoid it if not for the fact that Rahl wasn't used to not being able to look at his opponent; it made his aim erratic, and while he burned off the edge of one of her sleeves, he didn't hand a hit before her evasive maneuvers carried her out of the technique's effective range.

Once Amaya had gotten far enough away that the heat ray only stung a bit she went on the offensive, hurling two handfuls of shuriken at Rahl and then another half dozen leading his direction as soon as he started to move. Rahl dodged the first set and his trench knives came out to block the second group, but two of them got through, one slicing his arm and the other lodging between his ribs.

Rahl yanked that shuriken out with a grunt, ignoring the trickle of blood down his side, and hurled a pair of scorch orbs at Amaya, charging her in their wake. She retaliated with a few quick hand signs and a spray of small fireballs from her lips that exploded against the scorch orbs and forced him to dodge the ones that remained.

"All right Amaya; we'll do this the hard way," Rahl spoke up. "Scorch Release: Fire Whirl!"

"Oh, no way," Amaya breathed in dismay as the air in front of Rahl distorted, and a swirling column of orange flame appeared. It was twenty meters wide, almost fifty meters high, and as Amaya watched it started moving towards her rapidly. Cursing, Amaya took off running, and a glance over her shoulder confirmed that even with chakra boosting her speed, Rahl's fire tornado was faster. With few options Amaya sprinted for the pond and barely made it, flames licking at her back before she dove into the water. Swimming down until the heat faded, she looked up to see the entire surface of the pond covered in Rahl's firestorm. _He made a damned fire tornado! What kind of genin can do that! _Amaya thought furiously. Submerged, she watched, but it showed no sign of dying down. _He thinks he has enough chakra to keep this up longer than I can hold my breath,_ she realized.

Six months ago, Amaya knew she would have been trapped, but that was before she'd perfected her chakra control in preparation for the exam and then gone on a trip that was practically an Uchiha rite of passage after gaining the sharingan.

The city of Tanzaku in the Land of Fire was famous for being one of the epicenters of gambling in the Elemental Nations. Its casinos saw wealthy patrons from all over the world. In addition to games of chance, visitors could bet on everything from horse racing to the succession orders of noble houses. Tanzaku even featured regular fighting tournaments with cash prizes that were heavily bet upon. Those tournaments tended to attract missing-nin and other shinobi looking for some extra income outside of village contracts.

One of the better kept secrets of the Uchiha clan was that they owned a sky box in the stadium where the fights took place. Most ninja would be wary of displaying their abilities in a venue where they knew sharingan would be upon them, so Amaya's clan made sure no one, not even the arena's owners, knew that they attended. Amaya had to demonstrate to the clan elders her ability to maintain a stable henge for an entire day before she was allowed to go there, thus the need for the chakra control lessons.

After passing that test, she'd spent two weeks in Tanzaku, most of that time in her family's skybox, watching fights. While truly top-tier ninja who knew A and B-rank techniques didn't lower themselves to fighting for the masses, she'd been surprised how many lower ranked abilities she'd been able to copy. Diving to the bottom of the pond she made use of one of them, grimacing as she dug into the muck at the pond bottom and then slipped into the earth beneath.

Amaya wasn't a fan of the Moguragakure _[Hiding like a Mole]_ technique; she'd had to watch it multiple times to get it down, and even though her sharingan let her copy it earth was not her natural affinity, and the earth chakra produced in her body to use the technique was painful and made her nauseous. But it beat getting fried or drowning so she did it anyways.

Lungs burning for air that she couldn't find underground any more than underwater, Amaya nonetheless kept going until she hit a tree root before clawing to the surface, slipping out of the soil with relief on the edge of the forest, taking deep breaths of fresh air.

Amaya discovered with dismay that she was absolutely filthy, wet, muddy and covered in muck from the pond bottom. But she was alive, and as she hid behind a tree, a glance at the arena's center showed that Rahl was still wasting chakra baking the pond.

Concentrating, Amaya rested her back against the tree's trunk and formed a genjutsu. Without eye contact she needed hand signs and her illusions weren't any stronger than what Senne or Sira could produce, but as she'd suspected Rahl was focused on his Fire Whirl and getting tired; he didn't notice when a minute amount of Amaya's chakra entered his brain.

Since it's easier to show people things they want to see, Amaya inserted an image of herself surfacing from the pond's depths, screaming and flailing as her clothes and hair caught fire. Genjutsu also worked better when the caster was familiar with the subject. Amaya knew what she looked like, and after her day subjected to Haruno Sakura's agonizing healing she knew the sound of her own screams better than she liked. Amaya even injected the acrid stink of burning hair and cloth into Rahl's senses as she carefully edited her real self out of his vision and then left the cover of the trees, running around the pond.

To his credit Rahl let the firestorm dissipate as 'Amaya' collapsed on shore, covered in burns and with her hair and clothes still on fire. Rahl knelt over her to put out the flames, and as soon as he touched the illusion it unraveled, but by then it was too late. He didn't even get to turn around before Amaya's boot slammed into the back of his head. Rahl's eyes bulged, and then he fell forward noiselessly.

Amaya kicked Rahl's trench knives away from his hands and then rolled him over, her own kunai to his throat, but he was truly out cold.

"The match is over," Samui said behind her, and Amaya rose to her feet, sheathing the kunai. "Uchiha Amaya of Konohagakure is the winner!" she announced, and the arena erupted with cheers.

Amaya poked Rahl with the toe of her boot. "Hey sleepy head, wake up."

Rahl's eyes opened and he groaned. "Ow."

Amaya noticed his eyes weren't focusing. "It's just a concussion, you big baby. Walk it off," she said heartlessly.

Chuckling ruefully Rahl sat up, looking dizzy. "You got me good," he admitted. "When did you make eye contact? I was so careful."

Amaya scowled at him. "I'm more than my eyes, Rahl," she chided the Sand genin. "I was performing genjutsu before I got the sharingan. I slipped it in while you were trying to roast the whole pond. Thanks for that, by the way. How was I supposed to surrender if I had been trapped down there?"

"Sorry, I just…" he trailed off. "I guess I deserved to lose. I will kill Grun someday, though." When Rahl looked a bit steadier she helped him to his feet.

When they were face to face, she spoke quietly, expression hard. "Rahl, I can't speak for Ken, but if I get matched against Grun in the next set, I'm going to accept his challenge and end him," she told Rahl.

The Sand genin looked shocked. "Amaya, I can't ask you to do that. He's a monster. Don't make it a death match, just do your best and maim him if you can, like Kaede did."

Amaya shook her head. "Not doing it for you. For Sira a little bit, but mostly just because that animal has to die before he gets any older and stronger. If he survives this tournament he'll be a chuunin, and he'll be out there killing our friends and teammates in no time." Truces between the villages didn't mean that shinobi from different villages didn't find themselves at odds on jobs, and Iwagakure's long border with Sunagakure and Konohagakure meant that confrontations between those village's ninja were common.

"All right. Well… good luck and congratulations." Walking unsteadily at first, Rahl headed for the Sunagakure box while Amaya returned to her teammates. Amaya decided that one benefit of being covered in muck was that Tenten refrained from hugging her, restricting herself to verbal congratulations.

"That was amazing, Amaya!" Ken exclaimed. Then he got a fierce glare from Amaya that wilted his enthusiasm.

"Ken, did you say something to Rahl about 'kicking his butt' if he hurt me?" Amaya demanded, cracking her knuckles.

"Ahh… maybe?" Ken admitted sheepishly. Then he ducked back as Amaya advanced on him furiously.

Tenten got a grip on the collar of Amaya's shirt. "Later, Amaya; first you're going to go take a shower and change, and then we're going to go visit Kaede." Ken started looking relieved until Tenten glanced at him with amusement and continued. "After that you can discuss your teammate's protective tendencies with him."

Ken swallowed hard at the evil look Amaya gave him. "Thanks, sensei," her murmured sarcastically.

"Anytime," Tenten replied sweetly.


	19. Final Round – Part 6

**Chapter 19: Final Round – Part 6**

* * *

The four genin who entered the Sky City arena on the day of the third set of the Final Round to the deafening cheers of a capacity crowd were a fairly grim-looking bunch. Grun of Iwagakure, sporting an eye patch and a look that could kill, projected such an aura of menace that no one wanted to be near him. Lorn of Kirigakure still affected his air of lazy absentmindedness, though no one was buying it after his performance the previous day. Uchiha Amaya of Konohagakure had put on her 'clan face', the stony expression and piercing stare that tended to reduce the most hardened criminals in her village to quivering lumps when Uchiha police officers pointed it at them. Even Isamu Ken's usually cheerful face was determined and focused.

Since fewer matches would be fought, the selection had been scheduled for later in the day than previous sets, and the afternoon sun was already halfway down the sky when C stepped out onto the balcony of the Raikage's box.

"Two matches will be fought today to determine who will fight in the championship bout," C announced. "Now, on to the selections!"

All four faces of the remaining genin flickered across the main monitor before they settled and stopped, one in each quadrant.

"First Match: Grun of Iwagakure versus Uchiha Amaya of Konohagakure!

"Second Match: Isamu Ken of Konohagakure versus Lorn of Kirigakure!"

Ken looked worried for a moment, but when Amaya glanced at him he buried it and gave her an encouraging smile. "You can take him, I know it," he said encouragingly. Amaya nodded silently. "Good luck," he added.

Ken and Lorn returned to their village's participant boxes. When Ken got back to his seat he could see the concern on Tenten's face that was mirrored on his own. Neither of them liked the pairing, but all they could do was trust in Amaya's strength.

Atsui, on the side of the ring, glanced between Amaya and Grun. "Are you ready to fight?"

"Not yet," Grun replied with an angry scowl. He reached for his weapon pouch – and a kunai thudded into the clay before he even touched his. A collective gasp filled the arena as Amaya's weapon landed.

"Oh Amaya, no," Tenten gasped, and Ken stared in disbelief as his teammate met Grun's challenge before he even issued it.

"I'm waiting, one-eye," Amaya said, her sharingan already spinning, her gaze as cold as ice. "Are you ready to die today?" When Grun hesitated her lips curled into a sneer. Sitting behind her own eyes, Amaya was unaware that his hesitation had been due to her sharingan shifting as two tomoe became three. "You really are just a coward and a bully, aren't you? Not so eager to risk your life when your opponent isn't afraid of you?"

Rage boiled in Grun's remaining eye, and his kunai sank into the clay beside hers. "You're not going to die quickly, Uchiha bitch. I'm going to make you scream until they're puking in the stands."

"You're all talk," Amaya said. "My physician's scarier than you." She glanced at Atsui, whose lips were set into a grim line. "Can I kill him yet?"

Atsui held up a hand. "A challenge of mortal combat has been delivered and accepted," he announced to the crowd. "Once begun, this match will not end until one party or the other is dead." He gave both genin a disappointed look, then stepped back. "Begin."

"Doton: Domu!" _[Earth Spear]_

"Katon: Gokakyu!" _[Great Fireball]_

Grun's skin turned dark an instant before the massive fireball slammed into him and exploded. When the smoke cleared he was on one knee and has been driven back a few places. While his armor was smoking, it was also intact, and he rose to his feet with a grin. "I don't burn that easy, bitch." Then he vanished in a puff of dust.

Amaya had been expecting the shunshin. What she hadn't anticipated was how slow it would be. For the first time in her life, something almost like Ken's afterimages when he used the Inner Gates overlaid her vision, and she could see not only where Grun was, but where he would be. After watching him fight Kaede she'd mapped most of his style, but actually seeing what he would do next was something she'd only heard described by older sharingan users.

It was the easiest thing in the world to shift her head to the side, the wind from the passage of Grun's fist caressing her cheek as she raised an open hand on his blind side and slammed it into his ear, hard. The armor prevented surface damage, and it cut into her skin, but a hard hide couldn't protect his eardrum from the force of the blow. Grun staggered back, surprise and pain on his face as blood trickled from that ear. "Done already, ugly?" Amaya taunted.

Grun moved forward, impressing Amaya with his high-speed taijutsu. He was skilled, he was fast, and Amaya concluded that he might actually be as good as Ken; but it didn't matter. At first Amaya didn't even strike back, just marveling in the ability to map his blows before he launched them and slide around them like oil on a hot pan. Experimentally she retaliated a few times, striking vulnerable spots with kunai only to see the blades break against his armor. _It's going to have to be plan A after all,_ she decided, starting to retreat from his attacks, moving backward slowly towards the forest, which was looking slightly the worse for the wear after the damage the Iwagakure genin had done to some of the trees.

Halfway there Grun paused in his attacks, recognizing that he couldn't hit her. "Okay, you're fast," he admitted. "But your boyfriend isn't the only one who can up his game." Grun's chakra spiked enough that she could actually see it and the only thing that saved her from what happened next was instinct and a teammate who pulled this on her in spars. Grun blurred even to her enhanced vision, and she raised her arms by reflex, wincing as his punch hit her block with enough force to make her bones creak.

She barely ducked under the follow up kick, and his next punch glanced off her shoulder, numbing her arm for a moment even though it was just a graze. _Figures Iwagakure has teachers who know how to open Inner Gates too,_ Amaya thought sourly. She could still see what he was going to do, but now Grun was moving so fast that it almost didn't make a difference. She deflected the next barrage of hits, accepting that her arms were going to be bruised from wrist to shoulder tomorrow. _Got to establish some distance!_ Ducking under his next high kick, Amaya rolled backward and came up in a crouch, sweeping one toe through the dirt in a half-circle between herself and Grun while forming the hand signs. "Katon: Hinoaku!" _[Arc of Fire]_

A three meter high wall of roaring white flame shot up from the gouge in the dirt where Amaya's foot had been. In the moment when the curtain of flame separated them Amaya dove to the side, rolled to her feet, and ran for the pond. _This is much riskier, but I won't make it to the trees at this rate._

Grun plowed through the wall of flame almost as soon as she made it, but just as she'd guessed he had to close his vulnerable eyes to do so. In the second it took him to open them and figure out what direction she was going, she had enough of a head start. Grun blurred into pursuit, but she made it out onto the water. She'd been hoping that he wouldn't have the chakra control to walk on water while using the Gate of Opening, but he appeared to be moving fast enough that he didn't need to, running on surface tension and never touching the water long enough to sink.

Getting clipped with a few more bruising hits despite her best efforts at evasion, Amaya knew she had to end this before she missed a step and he did some serious damage with that insane speed of his; she was reminded of Rock Lee's warnings when he had been training them. "If the fires of your opponent's youth make him faster than you, the sharingan becomes nothing more than a window into your imminent demise. What the eye can see doesn't matter if the body can't avoid it."

Grun knew enough about the sharingan that he hadn't made eye contact once in the fight; unlike Rahl though he was good at it, keeping his eyes on her body's movements and reacting to them. Amaya tried to slip a regular genjutsu past his defenses, but it broke as soon as it entered his mind. "No such luck, bitch," he growled, and she almost lost her head to the next punch, feeling her cheekbone break even though she turned with the glancing hit. "I've been cycling my chakra flow randomly since the fight started. Now die!"

Slightly dizzy from the hit to the head, Amaya took a few shots to the ribs and a painful kick in the shins before she recovered. _Got to put this psycho down now!_ Knowing it was a risk but out of options, Amaya leapt up and back, forming hand signs as fast as she could, but it was a complex ninjutsu she was attempting, and before she finished her time ran out. Grun shot up after her, and his punch hit her square in the sternum.

Amaya's breath left her body in a rush, denying her the ability to even scream as pain exploded through her chest. She felt ribs breaking, and air whistled past her as the force of the blow threw her backward in a descending arc that ended abruptly and painfully when her back hit the trunk of a tree on the pond's shore. Her spine creaked in protest, and her vision exploded into white stars from the back of her head hitting the wood. Nerveless, Amaya's body slumped to the dirt.

* * *

"Amaya!" Ken screamed in horror as the Uchiha girl hit the tree hard enough to leave an impression in the bark. She fell to the dirt, moving feebly. She got as far as putting her hands down and attempting to rise before collapsing again, blood trickling from her lips.

Grun's visible chakra flow faded with the closure of his Inner Gates, and a sick grin crossed the Rock genin's face as he took his time walking across the pond towards his prostrate opponent, cracking his knuckles.

Terror for her student gripping her heart, Tenten ground her teeth. Every instinct she had screamed at her to do something, but in this situation her hands were tied. Tenten glanced down into the aisles of spectator seats below the Konohagakure box and saw a half dozen masked Cloud ANBU gazing back up at her. They were there just waiting for a sign that she planned to interfere. _I couldn't get past them in time, and even if I could I'd just die with her. The Hokage would kill me if the Raikage didn't beat him to it._

"It can't end like this," Ken said in disbelief, his whole body shaking with anger and fear for Amaya.

"All we can do is believe in her," Tenten replied, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder.

_Get up Amaya,_ Tenten urged silently.

* * *

_Get up,_ Amaya commanded muscles numb with shock.

_Get up,_ she cajoled a frame riddled with broken bones.

_Get up,_ she screamed at a body wracked with pain.

Amaya's vision kept blurring, and she was on the edge of blacking out, but she fought it with every ounce of will. _If I pass out I'm dead._ She yelled at her recalcitrant body. _Kami knows what that animal will do to me without anyone to stop him._

Desperate, Amaya pushed chakra through her body, trying to energize the battered pieces that weren't responding on their own. The pain increased as her nerves fired stronger than ever, and she was excruciatingly aware of how badly she was injured. Her chest burned like someone was pressing a piece of red-hot metal to the entire length of her sternum, and taking shallow breaths only made it hurt worse. But when she commanded her arms and legs, they moved. Amaya forced herself up onto her knees, making her eyes focus on Grun, who was strolling across the pond towards her. _Got to do it! One jutsu, that's all I need! Have to do it before he gets any closer._

Forcing her hands to obey through sheer force of will, she started forming the hand signs. _If he rushes me I'm dead._ The fateful moment came – and passed. Grun just laughed at her. "Oh good, you're still alive. Kami you look pathetic. C'mon, Uchiha bitch, hit me with your best shot. You can't burn me," he crowed. "I have the perfect armor," he declared pointing a thumb at his chest.

"Not perfect…" Amaya grated, even though speaking was fairly painful. She formed the last hand sign and gave Grun a bloody grin. "Raiton: Rakkasora!" _[Falling Sky]_

Amaya put every bit of chakra she had into the jutsu she'd stolen from Soren. If this didn't kill Grun she was done, so she held absolutely nothing back, one of the big no-nos in regular ninjutsu duels. The energy left her body, and she slumped back against the tree trunk; with her chakra coils empty she couldn't move at all now.

Amaya's vision blurred and faded, so she didn't get to see the look on Grun's face when he heard the words that spelled his doom. But even slipping into chakra exhaustion and wracked with pain Amaya didn't miss the deafening 'CRACK' as a spear of light stabbed down from the heavens and enveloped the Rock genin, turning the surface of the pond incandescent for a moment. "Fry, motherfucker," Amaya rasped, and then darkness claimed her.

* * *

When the terrible light faded there was nothing left of Grun but ashes blowing on the wind that swept over the pond. The moment of stunned silence that had filled the arena following the lightning strike gave way to a huge roar of cheering from the crowd. Atsui appeared on the pond's surface, peering into its depths, then at Amaya before shaking his head. "Uchiha Amaya of Konohagakure is the winner! Medics to the field!"

Tenten wasn't sure how long she had been staring in shock and relief before it sank in that the tables had turned somehow, and she sagged in relief. Then she covered one ear with a wince as Ken started cheering at the top of his lungs.

Tenten watched Amaya being loaded onto a stretcher for the second time in the Final Round, but her worry was far less. She could tell the Uchiha girl was breathing; she obviously had broken bones and would be suffering from chakra exhaustion, but she'd recover. Those injuries were straightforward.

"The next match will begin in half an hour," Atsui announced.

* * *

When the second and final match of the day was scheduled to begin, Lorn and Ken took to the field. The audience murmured in surprise, as both of the genin carried some rather obvious and unusual tools. Ken had Guzo, the summoned tortoise shell shield he had used in the first match strapped to his left arm, although those with sharp eyes noted that he appeared to have re-painted it. In the first match the segments of the shell had been green and the tortoise face had been red. Now the shell segments were red and the tortoise face on the shield's surface was green, and wore a calmer expression. Lorn, for his part, had a pair of long, narrow wooden tubes slung across his back in addition to his usual bandoliers and pocket-filled jumpsuit.

Lorn took his place in the ring as Samui arrived officiate. Ken stopped about ten meters short of the ring in the section with sand and rocks, and stood expectantly.

"Well? Come on," Samui said to him impatiently.

"You think I'm standing on the mark in the ring after what happened to the last guy who fought him?" Ken replied incredulously.

Lorn grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't get to plant any mines this time; they beefed up security," he admitted.

"I'll still start from here," Ken stated firmly.

"Fine," Samui growled. "Are you both ready?" when she got two nods and no thrown kunai she stepped back. "Then begin."

Ken was already leaping into the air when she spoke, which was a good thing since the ground a few meters from where he had been standing erupted in a blast of fire and flying dirt. The jump took him out of range of that explosion but also committed him to a set arc through the air, and Lorn took the opportunity to throw several tagged kunai at him. Ken interposed Guzo between himself and the kunai, and the explosions against the shell had no visible effect, but he was thrown backwards by the kinetic force, landing further out in the rocky section of the arena.

Lorn caught Samui giving him an irritated look and put on an innocent expression. "What? You said get rid of the one I planted in the ring. You didn't say anything about the mines elsewhere in the arena. Oh, excuse me," he said, unslinging one of the wooden tubes from his back and laying it on his shoulder.

Once Ken landed he jumped up onto one of the larger rocks, and from there played leapfrog, staying on large bare rocks where Lorn couldn't have buried anything. He was thankful for Tenten-sensei's prophetic warning that Lorn would find a way to plant more bombs somehow and that he should plan for that.

Halfway back to Lorn Ken noted that the Mist bomber had one of his wood tubes over his shoulder, and it was pointed at him. Lorn did something to the device, and a cloud of smoke shot out of the back of the tube as a cylindrical metal object erupted from the front leading a trail of fire, flying towards Ken. He raised Guzo in defense and then blinked in surprise when the rocket shot past him, missing entirely. _Wait a minute; Lorn's aim is better than that!_ Trusting his instincts Ken dove forward and rolled on top of the shield through the sand. As he did so he saw that Lorn had dropped the launch tube on the ground and had one hand extended towards the rocket. His fingers twitched in a beckoning gesture.

The rocket, which reversed course once it passed Ken, shot over him and then detonated. Ken's dive saved him from the full force of the blast, but he still hissed in pain as a few pieces of superheated shrapnel peppered his back. Shunting the pain to one side, Ken jumped back up onto the next rock. From here he was faced with a problem; a long stretch of bare sand and clay between him and Lorn.

The Mist bomber occupied himself throwing more explosive kunai at Ken, who hopped between rocks to dodge them while he considered the issue at hand. There was almost certainly more mines between him and Lorn, but if he didn't close the range eventually an explosion would hit him. _To hell with it,_ Ken decided, dodging another volley of kunai and charging out onto the flat, zigzagging to avoid Lorn's projectiles and keeping an eye on the Mist genin's hands. When he saw those hands reach for the detonator on his belt Ken went airborne again, leaping out of the range of another mine as it exploded behind him.

Watching Lorn through the shield's window Ken saw him hurl some grenades this time for variety. Ken angled his shield to take the blast from above instead of the side. The force of the detonation rattled Ken's bones and slammed him into the back of the shield as he was thrown higher in the air. Spotting Lorn tossing an entire satchel of explosives where he was going to land, Ken decided not to hit that, and loosened his leg weights, kicking them off as his vertical momentum changed direction. The leg weights went flying behind him, giving him horizontal momentum. Blinded by the sun, Lorn didn't see that Ken had changed his trajectory until he landed well past the satchel. Lorn detonated it anyways, and the blast was massive enough that the shockwave hammered Ken and fire washed over his back, setting his jumpsuit alight in patches.

Thrown forward by the force of the blast Ken turned it into a roll, hoping his back passing over the sand would put out the fire. He came to his feet within striking range of Lorn, who was backpedalling and reaching for more explosives. Ken swung Guzo and hit Lorn in the face with the top edge, following it up with a kick that knocked the Mist bomber to the ground.

Lorn's nose looked to be broken, but he recovered quickly, forming a pair of hand signs. "Suiton: Mizunoya!" _[Water Dart]_ Ken tried to dodge the fast-moving finger length dart of water from Lorn's lips, but the Mist genin had aimed for his shield, and the projectile hit Guzo dead center. Members of the audience – having watched that shield absorb huge explosions and deadly lightning ninjutsu – had just enough time to wonder what Lorn hoped to accomplish by doing that when Guzo shattered, breaking into more than a dozen pieces as soon as the water dart hit it.

Lorn used the moment he'd gained when the shield broke to sling his second wooden tube off of his back and point it at his opponent.

"Didn't think anyone would figure it out that quickly," Ken admitted, looking ruefully at the broken pieces of Guzo, then at Lorn. He knew the only reason the Mist genin hadn't fired yet was because at this range he'd injure himself pretty badly in the process of killing Ken.

"Back off," Lorn instructed him, and Ken obeyed, taking a few steps back. He wasn't getting any killing intent off of Lorn, so he guessed the Mist genin was trying to force him to concede. "It occurred to me when you took enough explosives on that thing that the color of the shield wasn't paint. That got me thinking about how difficult it would be to place barriers against any kind of attack in an object that size," Lorn explained. "You have two of those shields, don't you? The green one is for blocking ninjutsu and the red one for blocking physical attacks."

Ken kept backing up, and when he passed outside Lorn's optimal range the Mist genin stepped forward to keep him in the sights, placing himself in the middle of the shards of Guzo. "You got it," Ken admitted cheerfully. It was actually just one shield, but at the moment of summoning he had to pick the type, and he could only summon it once a day.

"Surrender," Lorn said quietly. "I'd rather not kill you."

"Sorry," Ken apologized. "Guzo: Release!"

Lorn wasn't a fool; his finger tightened on the launcher's trigger, but it was too late. He was standing in the middle of the fragments of Guzo, and that left him vulnerable to the shield's final technique. If someone used the type of attack that the red or green Guzo was weak against it would break, but it still held all the energy of the attacks it had been hit with. The shards, which were really just each segmented plate of the shield separated from the others, glowed white and then discharged all the kinetic energy they'd absorbed at once.

With a deafening 'BOOM', Lorn found himself on the receiving end of an explosion, his body thrown high into the air. Tracing the arc of Lorn's fall Ken darted forward and half-caught the other genin, breaking his fall so his impact with the clay didn't injure him further. Lorn's clothes were in tatters and he was out cold, but fortunately the purely kinetic nature of Guzo's stolen energy hadn't set off any of Lorn's remaining explosives.

Ken set Lorn down on the clay and stood, wincing at the growing pain from his burned and shrapnel-peppered back as the adrenaline faded.

"Isamu Ken of Konohagakure is the winner!" Samui announced from behind him, and the crowd erupted in cheers. "Do you need the medics to come down here?" she asked Ken quietly, eyeing the burns and wounds on his back where his uniform was half burned away.

Ken shook his head. "I'll make it under my own power," he reassured her, limping off the field in the direction of the hospital.

C took to the Raikage's balcony to address the crowd. "The championship match of the Final Round will be between Uchiha Amaya and Isamu Ken of Konohagakure. Once their medical staff has evaluated their injuries a date for the final match will be set and announcements will be made across Sky City."

* * *

Tenten reflected with resigned amusement on the irony of her genin being together once more; they occupied three beds in connected rooms in a large medical suite. 'Occupied' was of course a relative term for Ken, who refused to stay in bed despite the discomfort that moving had to be causing him even after Sakura had extracted the shrapnel, healed the worst of his burns and bandaged his wounds. She proclaimed him fit to fight in a few days.

Kaede was napping in her room, a thick cast on her ankle. The break had been nasty and would be a while in healing even with medical chakra, but she bore the injury in good grace, especially when she found out that Amaya had finished Grun.

Amaya hadn't woken up until after Ken returned from his fight. Sakura had mended the numerous broken ribs, commenting that Amaya was incredibly lucky that none of the bone fragments dislodged by Grun's last blow had nicked her heart or aorta. Amaya was still one big bruise from head to toe courtesy of the beating Grun had given her, but she was on the mend physically. Her chakra exhaustion was another matter; in the field she would have been laid up in bed for at least a week recovering from that last jutsu, but in Sky City there had been an alternative.

Sakura sat on one side of Amaya's bed, her hands on the girl's stomach. Uchiha Sasuke, who was attending the Exam as an observer along with his father and Amaya's grandparents, sat on the other side of the bed, his hands laid over Sakura's.

Kick starting the chakra coils of someone who had exhausted them was rarely done, because it required both a very skilled medic, and a donor with chakra similar enough to the recipient's to avoid rejection. Fortunately, both were on hand, and since Uchiha Fugaku was keen to see a member of his clan cinch the championship, his son Sasuke – by far the strongest of the four Uchiha in attendance – was donating his chakra to speed Amaya's recovery.

Sakura's face was a closed mask, and Tenten knew that was mostly because she didn't like being around Sasuke, who reminded her of the past, when Naruto abused her with impunity while her teammate and sensei did nothing. Sasuke's expression didn't change much either, but in his case that was just his nature. Tenten couldn't recall Sasuke ever having smiled outside of combat. He smiled when he was killing, but that was about it.

Still they were both shinobi with a job to do, so they'd been sitting there with their hands laid over one another for hours, while Sakura drew Sasuke's chakra out of him and gently guided it into Amaya's body.

One of the Kumogakure medics had visited half an hour earlier to confer with Sakura on when Ken and Amaya would be able to fight. They'd settled on Friday night, three days away, as ample time for both to return to fighting trim, and the announcement had already gone out through Sky City to alert ticket holders.

When Amaya could move her arms and legs again, Sakura halted the transfusion and ran Amaya through some simple chakra molding exercises. Once she was satisfied that Amaya's chakra network was undamaged and recharging on its own, she declared the procedure done and Sasuke departed after a few words of encouragement to his niece.

Sakura was silent for a short while before she spoke abruptly. "Amaya, after you were struck by that Rock genin and you fell did you try to heal yourself?"

Amaya blinked and shook her head. "I don't know any medical ninjutsu."

"But you did do something," Sakura insisted. Tenten looked up from where she'd been sitting by the window reading a magazine to listen in.

"I just forced chakra into my muscles," Amaya admitted. "It hurt a lot, and I almost passed out, but it worked." Sakura was giving her a dire look, and she winced. "I know they said never to do that at the academy, but I didn't know what else to try!"

The scarred healer shook her head slowly. "Doing that is forbidden for good reason. Most shinobi don't even have the chakra control to attempt to do what you did, but for those who have the control but aren't medics it's possible; it's also incredibly dangerous." Sakura glanced at Tenten. "You didn't tell her how to do that, did you?" There was a dangerous note in Sakura's voice.

Tenten shook her head in denial. "I listened when you told me never to try it unless I studied medical ninjutsu first," she said, frowning at Amaya. "I would have warned her if I had thought she'd try it."

"What's so wrong with it?" Amaya demanded defensively. "It worked, and I would have died otherwise."

"What you did is actually a form of kinjutsu called Yaburu Seigen _[Limit Break]_; it's a forbidden technique because it damages the user's body. What you did was overload your muscle cells with chakra to energize them and form new cells. It let you move when you were too injured to do so normally, but it comes at a cost. You can't see or feel it, but there are damaged cells laced throughout the muscle fibers in your body now. Most of them will just disappear and be replaced with new ones as you heal, but some of the cells that you forced to multiply didn't die; they'll keep multiplying out of control until your body breaks down the aberrant clusters they form."

"You've only done it once," Sakura continued, "so the risk of death is minimal this time. But shinobi who abuse Yaburu Seigen all eventually contract a form of wasting sickness that medicine can't do a thing to stop. It kills in a matter of months. The tipping point may come the second time you use Yaburu Seigen or the twelfth, but it does happen eventually, and once it does you will die. I'm not telling you not to protect yourself if it's a choice between life and death, but I am telling you that if you come to rely in Yaburu Seigen it won't matter; the technique will kill you before your enemies have a chance. It's far more dangerous than the Eight Inner Gates that your friend uses. Do you understand?"

By the end of Sakura's stern lecture, Amaya was looking properly intimidated, and she nodded hastily. "I get it. I need to get stronger, not rely on kinjutsu to get me out of trouble."

Sakura's face softened. "Good. You should get some rest. I'll be back in the morning to check on you."

* * *

After Sakura departed, Tenten retired to the antechamber connecting her students' rooms to the rest of the hospital. She had rooms of her own in Sky City, but intended to stay close to Amaya until they were out of the Land of Lightning. If a member of Soren's clan wanted to take revenge they'd never get a better opportunity than now, when Amaya was too weak to even get out of bed. Stretching out on a cot she'd prevailed upon the hospital's staff to provide, she prepared for the night.

Like most jounin, Tenten had mastered the art of entering a light sleep while retaining a decent level of awareness of her surroundings. It wasn't as restful as true sleep, but any jounin worth their salt could keep it up for at least a week before feeling ill effects, and she'd been trading off with Genma every third night. There were only a few shinobi in Sky City subtle enough to get past the security posted around the hospital and Tenten herself.

Unfortunately, a few was more than zero.

A half dozen large snakes slithered soundlessly through the hospital's ventilation system, having entered from the sewers. The traps and detection seals in the vents would have caught a normal animal, but these were summoned creatures and possessed both feral cunning and an intellect all their own. Bypassing the security in the vents slowed them down, but it didn't stop them.

Upon reaching the section of the hospital their summoner had identified to them, four of the serpents with purple scales split up, finding their way to four different vents. Coiled behind the metal gratings, their fanged maws opened wide, and they exhaled an invisible and scentless anesthetic gas into the rooms beyond.

There was nothing to smell, nothing to hear, and even Tenten's refined chakra senses couldn't pick up a presence as small as a summoned snake. For a moment, instinct jolted her awake as her heart rate and breathing started to slow down, but by then she'd already inhaled several lungsful of the gas, and she had only a moment of unfocused alarm before she slipped into a sound sleep. Her genin never even woke up, falling more deeply into unconsciousness.

Once the purple snakes had lulled all of the humans in the suite into a deep sleep, two larger snakes with white scales emerged from ground-level vents, each one slithering towards the bed in the room they had invaded, climbing it soundlessly. The pair of alabaster serpents closed on the helpless sleepers, each one picking out an exposed area of skin and striking with blurring speed. Both victims stirred slightly in their sleep, registering the pain of the bites as the snake's fangs sank deep and injected their venom, but the gas filling their rooms kept them comatose.

When the snakes withdrew their fangs, each carefully traced its forked tongue over the bite marks, watching them critically until they faded and vanished. Their work done, a half dozen small puffs of smoke heralded the disappearance of the summoned serpents, leaving behind no trace of their presence save for the sleeping gas, which dissipated in minutes.


	20. Dark Gift

**Chapter 20: Dark Gift**

* * *

Amaya and Ken were both ready for their match when Friday night arrived, but it was a near thing. The morning after the semi-finals Tenten and all of her students had woken up late and groggy, and the injured genin weren't healing as quickly as Sakura and the other medics had projected. Amaya and Ken were both back to full strength by Friday afternoon however, so the match could go forward.

In an underground tunnel leading out to the arena floor, Amaya and Ken waited for their cue to emerge. "I'm glad the Chuunin Exam ended this way," Ken said. "All the killing, all the mistrust and hate and the matches where we were fighting for our lives are over."

Amaya raised an eyebrow. "Still one match to go, Ken," she reminded him.

Ken nodded. "Sure, but we don't have to worry about trying to kill each other. We can just go all out testing the fires of our youth and having fun, and no matter what happens we'll still be a team when it's over."

"I guess you're right. Soren, Rahl, Grun… they all came pretty close to killing me," Amaya admitted. Looking at her hand, she flexed it into a fist, then back at Ken. "Each of those fights made me stronger, though. I won't hold back, Ken. This isn't a spar. Here, in the Chuunin Exam, we'll find out once and for all which of us is stronger." Amaya grinned at Ken, and he smiled back.

Traditionally, one team from each graduating class in the Academy was formed from the top male student, the top female student, and the lowest scoring student. Tenten's Team Four was not that team. Amaya, Kaede and Ken had all been in the middle of their class, and their year's abundance of kunoichi had forced the creation of a squad with two females, a demographic the Academy's instructors usually tried to avoid. Tenten-sensei had certainly never told them that they were assigned to her because none of the other available jounin sensei wanted them, but Amaya and Kaede were both smart enough to read between the lines. It had spurred in all three of them a desire to prove their village wrong. They had all trained as hard as they could, and had been delighted to discover that while their sensei was a rookie, Tenten had been totally committed to making them better.

The first thing they learned was that what rank you graduated from the Academy in didn't mean anything in the real world. They'd all studied under Rock Lee while they were in the academy, but it wasn't until they met Tenten that they found out that their humble, eager taijutsu instructor had not only been the dead-last in his graduating class, but had worked past that black mark to become one of the most formidable warriors of his generation.

"All right you two, it's time," Samui announced as she walked up behind them, Atsui at her side. The proctors walked them out onto the field, where the roar of 60,000 people rising to their feet washed over them. The cheering continued until they reached the clay ring and stood facing one another.

The audience's gaze turned to the monitors as they displayed the Raikage's balcony. This time it was not C but A himself, in the formal robes of the leader of Kumogakure, who stepped up to address the audience. "Tonight marks the culmination of this year's Chuunin Exam!" he declared. "Daimyos! Nobles! Merchants! Peoples of each Great Nation! You have seen the skill of the most promising young shinobi each village has to offer on display this last week. Fifteen entered the Final Round; now two remain. Tonight, one of them will become the champion and carry the accolades of their victory for the rest of their careers."

The Raikage paused, letting the cheering die down. "As is tradition for exams hosted by Kumogakure, the winner will also take home the Champion's Cup." A gestured behind him, and the cameras focused in on a silver cup sitting on a table on the Raikage's balcony. The cup itself was massive – as wide across as the hulking Raikage's shoulders – but what stunned Amaya and Ken was that the cup was filled with gold coins. "Before the exam each participating village staked half a million ryo on one of their genin winning the elimination tournament. Half the amount in the cup goes to the winner's village, and the other half to the winning genin."

Amaya and Ken exchanged an astonished look. Neither of them had known that there was a cash prize at the finish line; they'd been too focused on survival. "Since both finalists are from Konohagakure, I'm sure that the Hokage is already counting his half," the Raikage observed. Laughter drifted across the arena, and Orochimaru gave a good-natured wave from his seat in the Hokage's box. "But you're not here to listen to me talk," A concluded. "You're here to see these two finalists face off. So without further ado, I turn this match over to the proctors."

_More than a million ryo,_ Amaya reflected. Money had never meant much to her. Even a distant relation of the Uchiha clan who had been treated with benign neglect for most of her life had never wanted for much in her life. There was always food on the table, a warm bed and pocket money when Amaya needed it. Once she entered the academy the clan had provided whatever ninja tools she required. The clan even had its own private library of ninjutsu and other techniques. Amaya had her own money from missions now, of course, and was careful with it, but no one was depending on her.

Amaya knew that Ken was another story. He was the third of seven children, and she knew he'd grown up dirt poor on a farm outside Konohagakure. He had two older brothers and four younger sisters. Ken's brothers and his father worked the farm and provided for the family as best they could, but it was a marginal existence, and they'd gone hungry through more than one lean winter.

As the third son, Ken had enrolled in the shinobi academy when he turned eight as a matter of fiscal necessity as much as anything. The Academy kept a certain number of slots open each year for children from civilian families in order to always be bringing in new blood, and those students without means were provided room and board, so his family would have one less mouth to feed.

More importantly, if he succeeded as a ninja he could make sure his sisters never went hungry again. A ninja who made chuunin and took a lot of missions could earn more in a year than a family farm's output, and most jounin who survived more than a few years at that rank were quite well-off, though few flaunted that wealth until they married and retired. It was a saying among clanless ninja that every clan started somewhere, and it was true. Even the Senju, the Sarutobi and the Uchiha started with a single exceptional shinobi who built a dynasty.

Even as a genin, most of Ken's money went home to his family. _Ken needs that prize a lot more than I do,_ Amaya concluded as she nodded mechanically to Samui's query about her readiness to begin the fight. _I should let him win,_ Amaya thought, and then paused in a moment of shock that that had even occurred to her. There were so many reasons not to. Amaya had never given less than her best in her life. Her family, and especially the clan head Fugaku, would be irritated if she didn't win. She'd have to deal with their scorn and disappointment. Most importantly, if Ken suspected she wasn't giving her all, she'd lose his respect and possibly his friendship.

_Does any of that really matter?_ Amaya asked herself, and was surprised to realize that it didn't. Her nindo wasn't about never giving up or the 'fires of youth' the way Ken's was. Amaya emulated her sensei's nindo; she was concerned more with doing what was effective; what was best for her allies, her clan and her village. If her clan was disappointed with her for not winning, so what; they'd had low expectations of her for most of her life anyways. _Ken would hate me if he thought I let him win, but nothing says I can't make it look good enough that he never suspects._

"Begin!" Atsui and Samui called together, and Amaya took a step back as Ken charged. _Make it look good,_ Amaya reminded herself. Quickly forming the tiger, dog and boar seals, Amaya cast her hands outward. "Katon: Goka Senpu!" _[Hellfire Whirlwind]_

Ken skidded to a halt as the air in a two meter circle around Amaya turned into a spinning wall of flame, and then had to backpedal while dodging shuriken flying through the barrier of fire. Then he yelped and ducked as a fireball careened out of the flame wall, feeling the heat wash over his back. "Girls," Ken muttered under his breath. "The first one wants to fry me with lightning, the second one comes after me with an actual whip, and now the crazy Uchiha is trying to roast me."

"I heard that!" Amaya shot back from inside the flame barrier.

Putting on a burst of speed, Ken prepared to jump through the fire wall fast enough to avoid serious burns, but two steps away it faded away to nothing – and inside it was empty. Ken stepped back warily, looking around. He disrupted his chakra flow by habit, but nothing changed, and Amaya's genjutsu were never that obvious.

The ground shifting was all the warning Ken got before Amaya shot up from the ground at his feet and got him with an uppercut to the chin, leaving the ground entirely and performing a graceful backflip before landing as Ken wiped some blood away from his lips. "What was that?"

Amaya shrugged. "I'm thinking of calling it the Hitting like a Mole technique. Oh and just for that smart comment earlier: Katon: Horou no Jutsu!" _[Fire Prison]_ Her hands flowing through the dog, ram and tiger seals, Amaya slammed one palm into the ground.

Ken jumped back, but Amaya just waited for him to land before releasing the jutsu. In a circle around Ken bars of fire shot vertically from the ground, rising two and a half meters before bending ninety degrees and forming a lattice across the top. "_Now_ the crazy Uchiha is trying to roast you," Amaya stated with satisfaction as she watched him start to sweat immediately in the oven-like confines of the fire cage.

"Unyouthful!" Ken complained, but then he grinned. Tracking him with her sharingan, Amaya spotted the moment when he tapped the first Inner Gate and one Ken became two, the one trapped in the cage and the one appearing right in front of her, vertical lines burned onto his uniform and skin from diving through the cage's bars at high speed. The first Ken faded as the second one launched a blurring barrage of punches that Amaya dodged, followed by a kick to the gut that she didn't.

Stumbling back, Amaya formed the tiger seal, but before she could complete the ram Ken hit her again with a palm strike to the shoulder that numbed her arm. "No more fire jutsus, I'm toasty enough thanks," he informed her cheerfully. Amaya growled and punched him in the face again. Ken took the hit and retaliated by grabbing her wrists and falling backward, overbalancing her and pulling her down with him as his back hit the dirt. Then both of his feet hit her in the stomach again, launching Amaya into the air.

"Okay, first my abs are not your punching bag," Amaya complained with a wince as her body arced through the air, imagining the bruises she was going to have on her stomach tomorrow. "Second, no Initial Lotus for you!" Knowing Ken's height in relation to her own, Amaya was pretty certain of where his face was going to be, and before his bandages could bind her arms she drove a vicious elbow behind and above her. She was rewarded by a 'crack' and a spray of blood as she broke his nose.

Amaya expected that to end his Initial Lotus attempt, but the bandages continued to wrap around her and she felt her body wrenched downward in a spiral. "You are not dropping me on my head!" Amaya growled, using the arm she'd elbowed him with to grab a handful of his jumpsuit and turn her head to look at him. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled fire into his already-battered face. Without the time or mobility to make hand signs it was just elemental chakra molded into her breath, but it was enough to make him flinch. Taking advantage of that momentary distraction she twisted her body around and kicked off of his chest, mirroring the separation he'd established from Senne; the bandages connecting them tore, but not before throwing off the angle of their fall.

Ken had been aiming for the sand, which was a more pleasant landing surface than the packed clay, but hitting the ground in a sprawling heap at significant velocity was never pleasant. The impact knocked the wind out of both of them and Amaya took a wheezing breath after a few moments as she got to their feet.

"Your abs?" Ken questioned in a slightly nasal voice as he stood up. "Stop hitting me in the face! I'm not going to be pretty anymore if you keep this up!"

Amaya snorted. "That ship has sailed, Ken," she teased him.

"You know you can't resist me," he shot back cockily. Then his chakra spiked, forming a soft glow around him as his eyes went completely white. Immediately the swelling in his face went down and the bleeding from his nose stopped.

_Two Inner Gates. _"Oh hell," Amaya muttered, forming hand signs while she still could. Her apprehension grew when his hair flew up in gravity-defying spikes and the sand around him started floating up in the air, borne on the waves of his chakra. _Three gates! He's never used that many against anyone but Lee-sensei before._

Working quickly, Amaya finished her jutsu and bit into the pad of her thumb. _Got to finish this before he gets close to me or it's all over._ A part of Amaya reminded her that she was planning to throw the match, but her competitive nature refused to concede yet. _First I want to try and survive three Inner Gates. _Ken vanished in a blur of motion as Amaya slammed her palm into the sand. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" _[Summoning Technique]_

Ken rocketed into the huge cloud of smoke Amaya produced, his fist seeking the last spot she'd occupied, but it passed through thin air. Emerging on the other side as the summoning smoke dissipated, Ken looked around in every direction, not seeing Amaya. Then he seemed to remember what Uchiha usually summoned and looked up. "Oh, not fair!" he complained as he saw Amaya grinning at him from the back of a giant hawk soaring through the air high about the arena floor.

"All's fair in love and war, Ken!" Amaya shouted back. Summoning took a lot of chakra and she was out of breath, but she still had enough power left for a combination move with the beautiful hawk she perched on.

All Uchiha who attained the sharingan were allowed to undergo the test to prove themselves worthy of signing the hawk summoning contract. Aspirants were reverse-summoned to the realm of the hawks and taken to the top of the mountain near the boss hawk's roost, to a ledge overlooking a sheer drop of more than two kilometers, through the clouds with a raging river and jagged rocks far below.

The test was simple: there were dozens of massive hawks at different altitudes below the ledge, circling on the thermals coming up off of the mountainside. To pass, an Uchiha had to jump off the high ledge and reach the riverbank far below by landing on the back of one hawk after another. It would be impossible without the sharingan, and even with it the test was a harrowing challenge. Uchiha weren't gifted with wind ninjutsu to slow their falls, and while a shinobi could fall a lot farther than a civilian, terminal velocity would kill anyone. In addition, none of the hawks the aspirant was relying on was particularly amenable to being a springboard for a plummeting human, and most were likely to express their displeasure with shark beaks and talons.

Amaya had earned a few wounds from annoyed hawks over the course of what her clan jokingly called 'The Feather Fall', but she didn't go splat at the end, and that's what mattered. Since then she'd trained in secret with her summoned hawk Aoihane _[Blue Blade]_. Like all the summoned hawks Aoihane had brown feathers on her back and wings and white ones on her throat and belly. She was named for the azure tips of her wing feathers.

On Aoihane's back Amaya knew she had the advantage. Ken was committed to the Inner Gates now; once he lost them he'd be exhausted, but Amaya could stay high enough in the air to avoid him until he ran out of steam. _Where's the fun in that, though? _Amaya reflected wickedly. _Besides, I have to let him win eventually. I'll just make him suffer a bit more for that 'crazy Uchiha' crack first._ Forming familiar hand signs, Amaya took a deep breath. "Katon: Gokakyu!" _[Great Fireball]_

The man sized fireball shot down at Ken, who looked almost insulted that she'd expect to hit him from so far away. Amaya wasn't done, though. "Aoihane! Air burst!" With a screech, the hawk flapped her wings hard, and a blast of compressed air caught up with the fireball and merged with it, causing the blazing orange sphere to quadruple in size.

"You're kidding me," Ken exclaimed as the suddenly house-sized fireball bore down on him.

The explosion when the fireball hit filled a quarter of the arena and the updraft of heat and smoke carried Aoihane higher in the air. The hawk gave Amaya a reproachful look as they circled over the arena. "Okay, maybe that was overdoing it," Amaya admitted guiltily.

She was relieved when Ken shot out of the smoke a moment later, a blur of green until he halted by the pond and began a jutsu of his own. Amaya recognized it as the summoning technique, and wondered privately what good he thought his shield was going to do him.

Her jaw dropped in surprise when the puff of smoke faded to reveal not Guzo but Ken perched on top of a massive tortoise, smaller than Aoihane with her wings spread but probably twice the hawk's mass, a solid-looking tank of a summon. The tortoise's shell was the same shade of green as Ken's jumpsuit, and Amaya blinked when she realized that it actually had a metal helmet on its head in addition to the blue scarf around its neck. The huge tortoise turned its head, looking surprised when it saw Ken perched on its shell. "Didn't Gai warn you not to try and summon me until your chakra capacity increased?" The tortoise chided him in a gravelly voice.

"It's okay, I'm using the Inner Gates, Midori," Ken reassured the tortoise. "Besides, I had to. See that hawk up there? It thinks tortoises don't know how to fight."

_No way the tortoise is that gullible,_ Amaya thought in disbelief, and Aoihane let loose an affronted screech. Midori looked up at them, however, and Amaya saw determination in its dark eyes. _Okay, maybe it is that gullible._ "We'll see about that! Suiton: Teppodama!" The tortoise's jaw opened wide, and a fast-moving bullet of water the size of Amaya's head shot from its throat. Aoihane banked to avoid it, but Midori wasn't done. A steady stream of the water bullets shot from the tortoise's mouth, tracking them across the sky. Amaya held on tight as Aoihane went fully evasive, looping, rolling and diving across the sky.

The audience cried out in alarm as dozens of errant projectiles hurtled towards the stands, but Kumogakure's barrier squad, which hadn't had much to do for the last week, proved more than up to the task, pouring chakra into the seal matrix that ringed the arena floor, blocking the spheres of water with walls of pure energy. Once the spectators figured out they weren't in danger they resumed cheering wildly. Few civilians ever got to see summoned ninja animals – much less a duel between two of them – unless they were too close to a battlefield.

When the barrage of water bullets let up for a moment and Aoihane could level out Amaya repeated her earlier jutsu. "Trying to shoot us down you overgrown pond ornament? Katon: Gokakyu!" As annoyed as her rider, Aoihane didn't need any encouragement to slice the air with her wings, enlarging and accelerating the fireball.

Amaya wasn't even trying to hit Ken; the Inner Gates would let him dodge it, but the tortoise didn't look quite so speedy. Midori just looked amused, however, and growled "Suiton: Junsai!" _[Water Shield]_ Water from the pond flowed up to form a wall between the tortoise and the fireball. The cloud of steam produced when the two jutsus met was immense.

Aoihane instinctively dove to avoid the superheated water vapor, and Amaya was too busy clinging to the hawk's back to spot the danger in time as the maneuver carried them too close to Midori. "Climb!" Amaya yelled when she recognized the danger, but it was too late.

Ken disappeared from Midori's back and appeared in their path, his spinning kick hitting the hawk dead center with the force of three Inner Gates. "Aoihane!" Amaya cried as the hawk shrieked, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Counting her blessings that she was at least close to the ground, Amaya tucked and rolled as she landed, coming to a stop with bruising force. "Well, the hawk's dealt with," Midori observed as Amaya clambered painfully to her feet. "Good luck, Ken!" Then the green tank of a tortoise disappeared itself.

"If you hurt Aoihane I'm going to kick your ass, Ken," Amaya growled, not really feeling the bravado. She was low on chakra and hurting all over. Ken looked to be running out of steam too, but it would be over soon anyways. She couldn't keep up with him at the speed three Inner Gates gave him. Going airborne had been her last gambit. _Oh well. I said I was going to let him win anyways._ Amaya took a stance and waited for Ken's attack.

* * *

In a skybox high above the action that was rented under an assumed name, the Yondaime Hokage watched the championship fight. The room was dark and empty, and Orochimaru was alone. A hundred meters away in the Hokage's box the shadow clone he'd created in the morning wore his uniform and watched the match. It had been fulfilling his rather boring ceremonial duties and attending meetings all day, while the real Orochimaru spent the time preparing for a moment he'd been planning for years.

The pair of fuuinjutsu seals he'd spent the day inscribing on the floor were breathtaking in their complexity. They had to be, to send chakra through a very powerful and complex barrier without its creators noticing that something was amiss. What Orochimaru intended to do tonight had to be flawless. It had to fool everyone, even the hapless genin who was about to play the starring role in Orochimaru's scheme.

As Amaya and Ken's summoned animals did battle, Orochimaru performed a summoning of his own, and a pair of large, white scaled snakes appeared. Each one slithered into the middle of one of the seals on the floor, contorting their bodies into the patterns inscribed for them by their master.

Forming another shadow clone, Orochimaru sat cross-legged in one sealing array while his clone mirrored his position in the other. He watched with cold yellow eyes as the hawk and tortoise summons were dispatched and the battered genin entered their final contest, blindingly fast taijutsu versus the sharingan's peerless ability to map movement before it happened.

It was time, Orochimaru decided. Facing the devastating kinjutsu of the Inner Gates, the Uchiha girl might be defeated at any moment, an outcome he could not permit. He watched as she prepared one last, desperate attack. "Now!" he barked. The snake coiled around his legs sank its fangs into his right arm, and the other snake bit his clone, filling them with the same venom that had lain dormant in Ken and Amaya for three days.

"Venom Seal: Empowerment," Orochimaru hissed, feeding his chakra into the snake latched to his arm and through it to the genin the serpent was linked to.

"Venom Seal: Enfeeblement," the shadow clone echoed, reaching through the second snake and activating the venom hidden inside the body of its target.

* * *

Ken had her on the ropes, and Amaya summoned the energy for one last riposte, taking a punch to the ribs, ducking under Ken's follow up strike and then forcing her tired legs to jump over his sweep. _One last shot and then I'm done,_ she decided, launching a kick at his head. He'd block it and then it would be lights out for her. She was too tired to dodge his next hit.

Two things happened at once, both of them a mystery that would haunt Amaya for years to come. First, a comforting heat that started in Amaya's bones spread throughout her tired, battered body, and in an instant her chakra levels surged. Her leg blurred as her revitalized muscles gave the kick new momentum.

Second, Ken's block never came. With the Inner Gates he was so fast it should have been effortless. Amaya's sharingan traced every moment of Ken's expression as she watched pain and shock flicker across his face instead. For the first time in the whole fight his eyes met hers, and she realized that he'd lost the Inner Gates; his pupils were visible again and his hair wasn't moving in the chakra flow. In that instant the irrepressible light in Ken's eyes that she'd seen every day since they met in the academy clouded over.

Alarmed, Amaya tried to pull back, to stop her kick, but physics already had both genin in its grasp. Time slowed down as Amaya's booted foot slammed into Ken's temple. The audience was on its feet and anticipatory silence had fallen over the arena. 60,000 spectators, countless shinobi and the leaders of five Hidden Villages saw Isamu Ken's head turn almost one hundred and eighty degrees, and heard the wet snap of his neck breaking.

"Ken?" Amaya breathed as she landed on her feet while her teammate sprawled motionless on the sand. She crouched over him, and in an instant the red-haired boy's empty eyes and the unnatural angle of his neck filled her gaze with a remorseless truth that she couldn't bear to believe. "KEN!"

The scream, boiling with grief, loss and guilt, broke the hush that had fallen over the arena. In an instant pandemonium erupted, but even if the silence had lasted longer, the arena's sky boxes were well insulated. No one would have heard Orochimaru's laughter.

* * *

Sitting with the rest of his clan, Sasuke watched the match between his young relative and the latest fool to adopt Maito Gai's tragic wardrobe and naïve nindo. He maintained a sullen silence, in contrast to the enthusiasm of her father and Amaya's grandparents, who commented on the ingenuity of her ninjutsu and her skill handling the summoned hawk. Sasuke was fully prepared to admit that Amaya was skilled and deserved to be the champion, but a kernel of bitterness rested inside him. _Amaya_ hadn't had to participate in a Chuunin Exam with two jinchuuriki.

Itachi, who had been the golden boy of the clan until he turned traitor, had won his Chuunin Exam at ten years old. Sasuke had been thirteen for his Chuunin Exam, but he'd been matched against Naruto in the second set of the Final Round. He'd given it his best, and been promoted for his efforts, but he'd never made it near the championship bout, and couldn't help but feel that he was judged as somehow less of an Uchiha for not being the very best.

So Sasuke allowed himself to feel some slight satisfaction when Amaya's hawk was taken down and she suffered a thorough pummeling from her teammate. _At least he doesn't have claws,_ Sasuke reflected sardonically, absently scratching his chest where he still bore the scars Naruto had given him in their bout. In fairness, Naruto had been covered in horrific burns by the end of the match, but jinchuuriki healed fast and rarely had scars.

"It would appear that predictions of Amaya's victory were premature," Sasuke observed quietly, ignoring a glare from his father and the elders. Because they were looking at him at the crucial moment, Sasuke was the only one of them who saw Amaya gain her second wind, and Ken lose control of his Inner Gates. "Or not," he added.

All four Uchiha stiffened when they saw Ken fall and heard the wet crack. "How close was Amaya to that boy?" Fugaku asked, his voice tight with alarm.

"Too close," Amaya's grandmother Chihuya replied grimly, and her grandfather Taka nodded in agreement.

"Sasuke, get down there," Fugaku said quietly.

"On it," the younger Uchiha replied, disappearing in a swirl of leaves, darting through the barrier and performing another shunshin. Irritably he noted that Tenten had beaten him there, thought he supposed she hadn't waited to have a conversation first. Amaya was holding Ken's limp body in her arms, sobbing uncontrollably, while Tenten, who looked just as distraught, tried to pry her away. Atsui and Samui stood nearby and some medics had joined them on the field, but one glance told every shinobi nearby that Isamu Ken was dead.

As Sasuke closed in on his niece Tenten succeeded in prying Amaya away from Ken's body, enfolding the girl in a hug. "It's all right, it's all right," she murmured.

Sasuke couldn't care less about the dead genin; his concern was for the live one. If Amaya had grown too attached to the boy his death was probably a good thing but for what it might have wrought in her.

It was Tenten who noticed it first when she drew back to look at her student with sadness and concern. "Amaya… your eyes!" she exclaimed.

_Oh hell, that tears it,_ Sasuke thought, abandoning politeness and shoving a few people out of his way. Grabbing Amaya by the shoulder he wrenched her from Tenten's grasp and turned his niece to face him.

The tear-filled eyes that stared back at Sasuke chilled him to the bone. Her tomoe were gone; in their place were three more black circles, almost like Amaya now had four pupils in each eye, the outer three 120 degrees apart and meeting the center one on the edges. There was no doubt it was a Mangekyo sharingan.

Sasuke drew Amaya tightly to his chest to hide her face. Tenten stared at him; she looked puzzled, but also inquisitive. She knew he knew what was happening. Giving her an apologetic look, he threw himself into another shunshin before Amaya could free herself from his grasp, and both Uchiha disappeared from the field in a swirl of leaves and displaced air.

* * *

_Author's Note: I'm sorry, please don't hate me! *ducks* I've had this particular outcome planned for a long time, and as you can guess, its import will play a role in much of what's to come._

_Orochimaru didn't apply a cursed seal to anyone last chapter. Genin suddenly covered in black marks or turning gray and scaly for no apparent reason would make a lot of people very suspicious. He was just setting up a means of bypassing the barrier around the arena that was supposed to stop miscreants like him from influencing the matches._

_With this chapter we pass 100k words! Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews._

_One final note, credit is due to VynosNeptune's "Custom Elemental Ninjutsu" here on this site (that I'm not allowed to name because the document editor keeps deleting it) for giving me ideas for some of Amaya's new ninjutsu used in this chapter._


	21. To the Victor…

**Chapter 21: To the Victor…**

* * *

The Sky City Arena was a scene of barely controlled chaos the night of the championship bout. Alcohol had flowed freely for most of the day prior to the match. The Final Round of the Chuunin Exam had already seen three deaths, but Chen had been a relative unknown, Soren was quietly executed in private, and the audience hated Grun. By contrast, Isamu Ken had quickly become a fan favorite over the course of the Final Round. The biographies of the finalists had become widely known, and Ken's storybook origins as a farmer's son who had become a formidable shinobi resonated with the common man.

The shinobi in the audience understood what had happened during the championship match. Isamu Ken had played with kinjutsu and paid the price, losing control of the Inner Gates at an inopportune time and losing his life an instant later. It was an accident, one made tragic because he'd died at the hands of a friend and teammate who plainly had not intended to strike a fatal blow, but still only an accident.

But for those without a ninja's eye, the match's ending was anything but understandable. To most of the audience it looked like Uchiha Amaya had chosen to kill her opponent. When another member of the Uchiha clan spirited her from the arena it touched off a riot.

Standing on the hard, packed clay of the arena's center ring, Tenten couldn't find it in herself to care about the vast general melee engulfing large sections of the stands and starting to pour over the barricades onto the arena floor. Her chest ached with each shuddering breath. Her eyes burned from holding back tears. Kaede, usually so collected and stoic couldn't muster the same resolve. The girl ducked her head, but Tenten could see the damp trails down her face.

Tenten was torn, and focused on her growing anger. It was better than facing the grief. Sasuke had vanished with Amaya, offering not a word of explanation, and as much as she wanted to chase down the Uchiha heir and get some answers out of him, she couldn't leave Kaede and Ken alone either, not with a sizeable portion of Sky City's populace rioting around them.

Tenten and Kaede watched the medics slip Ken's lifeless form in a body bag and load it onto a stretcher. As they moved towards one of the exits that the Cloud ninja retained control of, Shikamaru appeared near them. "The daimyos and their retinues have all been evacuated, and the kages are withdrawing," he informed her. "We need to get out of here," he informed Tenten. "It's going to take the Raikage a while to move enough forces into the city to make a difference."

Tenten nodded mechanically. Assembled in one place, the five kages and their retinue of elite bodyguards could put down a riot this size by themselves, but it would be a bloodbath. Instead they were covering the VIPs and pulling out, leaving it to Kumogakure and the Lightning Daimyo to bring in enough soldiers and shinobi peacekeepers to suppress the rioting.

Atsui and Samui had disappeared to assist in crowd control, so Tenten, Kaede and Shikamaru were left to cover the retreat of the medics bearing Ken's body. They made it out of the arena without being challenged, but outside the arena some aggressively drunk rioters came close to attacking them before Tenten and Shikamaru produced a few dozen bunshin. The basic clones were nothing more than harmless illusions, but the civilians had no way of knowing that and backed off.

Crossing the crowded bridge connecting the arena to the rest of the city might have required them to actually hurt some people, but Kaede was stirred from her grief by irritation with the rioters, and released a cloud of soldier bugs that surrounded their group, stinging anyone who got too close.

The made it to the hospital without further incident, slipping through the gates before the rioters arrived. Once they were inside and Ken's remains were being prepared to be returned to Konohagakure, Tenten shifted her focus to the living. She drew Kaede aside. "Do you still have a tracking bug on Amaya?"

The Aburame girl nodded. "My hive can find her. She's still in the city, I'll take you there." Kaede's voice was raw with emotion, but steady.

Tenten shook her head. "Just give me some bugs that can track her. I need you to stay here with Ken and Shikamaru, and get out of the city when they leave."

"Sensei, Amaya's my friend, I can't leave her," Kaede protested.

"Kaede, this riot is going to tear Sky City apart before the Raikage can bring in enough soldiers to suppress it. The hospital isn't safe. Genma, Shikamaru and Ebisu are going to need you and Udon to scout for them while they pull out of the city. It's not just the medics and Ken's body, the Inuzuka boys are still walking wounded." Kaede made a face. "I know you don't like Teams Two and Three, but you're going to have to deal with it. If you get promoted you may be working with them more often."

"I understand sensei." Walking to an open window, Kaede held a hand up, releasing a small cloud of bugs. They milled around outside the window for a moment before starting to buzz in excitement. "These male kikai bugs have picked up the scent of the female on Amaya. I've instructed them to lead you to her. Good luck sensei." With that, she followed Shikamaru up to the wing where the Inuzukas were housed to assist in the evacuation.

Tenten jumped out the window and followed the small swarm of bugs, keeping to the rooftops where she could and moving quickly when she had to descend to street level. On a few occasions she had to fight her way through packs of violent civilians, leaving lumps on heads and broken bones in her wake. None of them were a threat to her, but they were slowing her down. This was one reason she didn't want Kaede along for this trip. The other reason was that she couldn't discount the possibility that the Uchiha might not be in a welcoming mood.

_Sasuke knows something about what happened to Amaya's eyes_, Tenten thought. After half an hour she outpaced the edge of the spreading riot and made a faster clip through mostly deserted streets. The kikai bugs led her a third of the way around the crater before they stopped, buzzing and circling around the gate of a townhouse surrounded by a high wall. It was a wall meant for privacy, not keeping out a shinobi, so Tenten jumped over it without hesitation, searching for nearby chakra presences as she crept silently through the gardens between the wall and the house.

Tenten could sense the familiar Uchiha chakra of Sasuke, Fugaku, Amaya and her grandparents. She blinked in surprise when she sensed Anko as well. Instinctively she suppressed her own chakra presence. The Uchiha seemed to have something to hide, and the involvement of the Hokage's wife worried her. Tenten reminded herself that she was alone out here in a city descending into chaos. If she demanded answers openly, the Uchiha might very well decide to just kill her and blame her death on the riot.

Moving silently and sticking to the shadows, Tenten moved around the building until she saw light coming from the upper windows. She climbed up the wall carefully, relying on handholds and muscle, as the use of chakra to ascend would alert those inside.

"Do you have any idea what you've started, Fugaku?" Levering herself over a railing onto a balcony, Tenten drew close to a set of glass doors and heard Anko's voice inside. Sliding the blade of a polished kunai along the floor around the corner Tenten examined the reflections in the blade and saw Anko sitting around a table with Fugaku, Taka and Sasuke. Deeper into the room Amaya was lying on a couch next to her grandmother, her head on the old woman's lap. Tenten couldn't tell if her student was sleeping or unconscious. "If the Lightning Daimyo decides to blame your clan for this riot, it will strain relations between the Lands of Fire and Lightning."

Fugaku snorted. "We're not the ones who let this build up. The daimyo's tax rates on the citizens of this nation have more to do with civilian discontent here than Sasuke removing Amaya from the arena."

"Yes, let's talk about that," Anko's voice was a dangerous purr. "We had a deal, Fugaku, and that," Anko pointed at Amaya, "was not a part of it. You assured the Hokage that this would never happen again after the fiasco with Itachi and Shusui."

Tenten blinked, sinking further into the shadows. Those were dangerous names. Itachi was of course Konohagakure's most famous traitor and a member of Akatsuki, and Uchiha Shusui's murder at Itachi's hands had been the incident that prompted his flight from the village.

"We have kept the Mangekyo sharingan's existence a secret, as agreed! Amaya knew nothing of it." Fugaku explained icily. "Secrecy cannot prevent accidents, however, which is what happened today. You were watching that fight the same as we were."

"Amaya didn't intend to kill the Isamu boy," Elder Taka added. "She was so distraught over his death that Sasuke had to put her to sleep to get her out of the arena; she didn't want to leave him."

_Mangekyo sharingan… is that the name for the change in Amaya's eyes? How does it relate to Ken's death?_ Feeling a lump in her throat, Tenten ruthlessly clamped down on her emotions. There would be time to grieve for her student later.

"The secret law pertaining to the Mangekyo sharingan is clear, Fugaku," Anko said seriously. "It has been in place since the reign of the Second Hokage."

Elder Taka's eyes smoldered, and Elder Chihuya rose to her feet, striding over to the table to stand behind her husband. "Don't quote the law to us, Mitarashi," Taka growled. "Not when it's been broken with the Hokage's knowledge already. My granddaughter did not seek this power, and we will not allow her to be executed, nor will we hand her over to the Hokage."

Anko's eyes narrowed, but facing four implacable Uchiha, she backed down. "Fine; then you'd damn well better make sure this little fiasco begins and ends with Amaya. Train her to hide it and impress upon the girl the importance of keeping the secret, because the day she reveals the Mangekyo sharingan to anyone, under any circumstance, or otherwise allows information about it to spread is the day she will be arrested and executed. That goes the same for any more 'accidents' going forward; no matter how accidental, the Uchiha in question will face the full weight of the law. For the sake of our working relationship the Hokage is willing to offer that much, but no more. Are we clear?"

Fugaku gave Anko a silent stare that would melt most people where they sat, but the Hokage's wife just grinned at him, looking amused. "Understood."

"There may be another problem," Sasuke interjected. "Tenten saw Amaya's eyes after they changed."

Tenten winced. _Uh-oh…_

Fugaku shrugged. "There's no way that clanless kunoichi could understand what she saw. The next time she sees Amaya the girl's eyes will appear just as they did before, and Amaya will profess innocent ignorance if questioned about what happened."

_Thank you, Fugaku! Three cheers for being underestimated._

Anko considered that. "As far as I'm concerned this whole problem is on you Fugaku, so I'll leave dealing with what Tenten did or didn't see in your hands. Don't underestimate that woman, though. She sees and understands more than you think. She's also very close to Hyuuga Neji, so ask yourselves how much you know about what that clan knows."

Tenten suppressed a groan. _Kami, Anko! Why don't you just shove a kunai through my heart yourself?_ Anko's statement was followed by a long silence. Risking another peek at the room in the kunai's blade, she saw thoughtful looks on Fugaku and Taka's faces.

Tenten resisted the urge to swear, suspecting that her name and face would soon be featured in some of the Land of Fire's 'white' Bingo Books. Normal Bingo Books were issued by Hidden Villages; they had black covers and held the names of missing-nin and village enemies with a price on their heads. 'White' Bingo Books were the opposite, circulating among less reputable shinobi circles and offering bounties not sanctioned by the kages. They were useful when, say, a clan like the Uchiha wanted someone out of the way that they didn't have cause to kill legally.

"Anyways, do what you need to and get your house in order," Anko said as she rose to her feet. "I'm leaving before the riot spreads any further."

_That's my cue to leave, _Tenten decided. She waited for Anko to depart, listening while the Uchiha discussed their own escape plans. Then she climbed down to ground level and over the fence, walking a few blocks before using her chakra to break into a run.

Sky City's gates and tunnels connecting it to the rest of the Land of Lightning were already sealed, but that didn't pose much of a problem for Tenten, who simply scaled the crater wall and ran down the mountainside. What few shinobi Kumogakure had patrolling those areas were engaged in riot control, so she was unchallenged.

In spite of the chaos, Tenten reminded herself that she had a job to do. The Chuunin Exam was over, and that meant Hidan and Kakuzu were waiting for her to complete her real mission, back in Kumogakure. Rejoining Shikamaru and Kaede was thus out of the question; that group was moving too slowly. They'd still be expecting her back though, so halfway down the mountain Tenten split her chakra and formed a single shadow clone. It headed off to find Kaede and escort Ken's body back to Kumogakure. It would tell them that Tenten had been unable to get to Amaya with the rioting and had to turn back, but the Uchiha were more than capable of seeing her safely back to the Cloud village.

The real Tenten headed straight for Kumogakure, cutting through the Second Round testing area. The riot was working in her favor right now; communications between Sky City and Kumogakure would be a mess, and Darui would be stuck in Sky City until the riot was suppressed. If she made good time back to Kumogakure, she could do her work without a hitch.

* * *

A day and a half of hard travel saw Tenten back in Kumogakure. She had done a lot of nerve-wracking things in her life. It came with the territory of being a shinobi and a jounin. But walking into the ANBU headquarters of Kumogakure henged into the man who ostensibly ran the place was right up there with trying to survive Uchiha Itachi's efforts to kill her. If not for his chakra overlaying her own it would be impossible. Of course, Darui's lightning-rich chakra made her feel like she'd just grabbed a doorknob in winter, but there was no getting around that.

One false move, one bad encounter or innocuous question and she'd be dead or worse. Fortunately, the riots tearing Sky City apart worked in Tenten's favor once more. Most of the ANBU had already left Kumogakure, while the one she needed was still around.

When Tenten walked into the ANBU ready room, mimicking Darui's aggressive, alpha male body language, there were only two ANBU there holding down the fort and absently playing cards. Two masks turned towards her, one familiar and the other new. "Hey, boss," Goat said, sounding surprised, "didn't know you were back. What's up?" Trout, sitting across the table from Goat, didn't say anything.

"No time," Tenten answered in Darui's deep voice, giving it a hint of urgency. "Where's Yugito?" She would have avoided interacting with any of the ANBU, but she couldn't sense the jinchuuriki, which should have been impossible; when Naruto was in Konohagakure she could feel his disgusting chakra from kilometers away, and standing in Cloud's ANBU headquarters she could feel the distant presence of the Hachibi's jinchuuriki in the Raikage's tower.

"Holed up in her room, boss," Trout answered absently in a woman's voice, tossing some chips on the table. "Raise," she said to Goat. "Are we being invaded or something?"

Tenten shook Darui's big head. "No, just a rush job that needs doing; thanks," she said, heading down the indicated hallway.

"You might want to rescue Gopher while you're at it, boss. We tried to warn the newbie about her, but I don't think he listened," Goat said as Tenten walked out of earshot.

Tenten shrugged that off, not sure what Goat was talking about. The doors of the rooms weren't marked, but Tenten knew immediately when she'd found the right one. The first clue was the sealing array carved into the doorframe, one designed to mask the chakra signatures of whatever was inside. It made sense; Tenten would have had a hard time sleeping close to a jinchuuriki, and presumably Cloud ANBU had the same problem.

The second clue was the sound of flesh slapping against flesh and muffled screams that sounded male coming from under the door. "Come on, baby," a voice like poisoned honey drifted from inside, followed by more muffled noises of pain. "Be a good boy for me or I'll give you something to really scream about." Tenten really didn't want to know what was going on in there but knocked anyways. "Piss off," came the prompt, tart response from inside. "You can have him back when I'm done with him."

"Couldn't care less about your love life; we've got work to do," Tenten replied.

"Darui? Fuck. All right, give me a sec." Sounds of someone moving around inside lasted all of thirty seconds, followed by the door opening. The woman was only slightly shorter than Darui, with a tall, athletic build. She wore a formfitting black bodysuit and a white mask with a stylized puma on it. Her long blond hair was caught up in a braid down her back. The scent of sex clung to her. As soon as she stepped across the threshold, Tenten was assaulted by the sense of the massive well of burning chakra inside the woman.

Tenten got a glimpse into the room and saw a lean man wearing a gopher mask and nothing else lying on the bed, tied to the posts at wrist and ankle with chakra ropes. More than a dozen small senbon were buried in his chest, and trails of blood ran down his sides, staining the sheets. Tenten felt relieved when Yugito closed the door. "If he can free himself before I get back maybe I won't finish what I started," Yugito commented. "So what's the job?"

"Potential defector we've been keeping an eye on has decided to take advantage of the chaos in Sky City to make a runner."

"You need me for this why?" Yugito asked in irritation.

"Don't need you for him; we know where he is, he's hiding in the sewers. Need you to take care of the folks coming to take him. Intel indicates an S-class missing-nin, so we're going to send a message. Fuck with the Cloud, get the claws. Sound better?"

"Purr-fect," Yugito replied. "Lead the way, boss."

_Hurray for veteran shinobi who don't think anyone could ever fool their chakra senses,_ Tenten thought smugly as she left the ANBU headquarters and descended into the sewers with Yugito Nii, jinchuuriki of the Nibi, in tow.

* * *

It didn't take Tenten long to make her way down to the area where Hidan said he would be waiting. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt two familiar chakra presences ahead. Yugito, pouring out too much chakra in every waking moment to sense very far, was oblivious until they walked into a large cave where numerous stonework trenches carried water through the city.

Tenten stopped, and Yugito got a few paces ahead of her before noticing Kakuzu and Hidan standing in the center of the room. Taking in their black robes covered with red clouds, she glanced over her shoulder at Darui. "Really, boss? You could have mentioned they were Akatsuki."

Her job was complete at this point, but Tenten saw no harm in keeping up the façade a few more seconds. "What, you're afraid now, Yugito?"

"Nah, but I would have been in a better mood if you'd told me. The money the Raikage will give me for their heads will be wonderful."

Slowly drawing the real katana slung across her back, Tenten laughed Darui's gentle laugh. "Fair enough; I'll back you up. Just be careful."

Yugito Nii took a single step forward towards Hidan and Kakuzu as hot blue trails of chakra started to leak from her skin. Then she shuddered in shock and pain as a meter of steel was thrust through her chest, entering on her right side below the shoulder blade and emerging below her right breast. Then Tenten wrenched the blade sideways, slicing straight through Yugito's right lung and out of her body in a spray of blood.

For a human it would be a fatal wound. A jinchuuriki would survive, but it would slow her down, which was the point. "Tenten fall back!" Hidan shouted, and she didn't need to be told twice, sinking into the stone below her feet as roaring blue flames exploded from every inch of Yugito Nii's body.

Tenten managed to avoid getting singed, and slid through the rock on a wave of earth chakra until she was far away from Yugito before emerging back into the cave and discarding the now useless henge of Darui, sighing in relief as his charged chakra left her body.

The scene was chaos. The shock of the wound had spurred Yugito's transformation into a house-sized cat made of blue fire with a pair of lashing tails. Even transformed, Tenten noted with satisfaction that Yugito was favoring her right side, which was healing rapidly but still dripping blood. Kakuzu was hanging back while his water, earth and lightning masks pelted Yugito with elemental ninjutsu. Hidan was getting in close and personal, slashing away at Yugito's tailed beast form. His tri-bladed red scythe glowed with a brilliant white light, and while his strokes passed through the flaming cat without visible injury, the Nibi screamed in pain and flinched away from each blow.

Hidan's holy weapon, the will of Jashin forged into blood-red steel, didn't inflict physical wounds; its blows were far more horrific, at least for the wicked. The scythe tore at the very soul, inflicting pain in proportion to the sins that weighed on its target. From the way Yugito was reacting to its touch, she'd been a very bad girl.

Tenten watched Hidan fight, mesmerized for a moment. Nothing remained in this moment of the kindly man who was the soul and conscience of the Akatsuki, who had a smile and a word of wisdom for everyone. Now he was an avenging angel, and he fought with the same unearthly grace that suffused his chakra, flowing like water and never where the Nibi's claws fell. His cloak and hair were burning and his skin was starting to peel and singe just from being close to the Nibi, but such wounds wouldn't deter one of Jashin's chosen.

Remembering she was holding a sword soaked with Yugito's blood, Tenten yelled, "Hidan, catch!" Hidan leapt back from the Nibi, and Tenten threw the sword to him. He caught it by the hilt and nodded his thanks to Tenten, then ran his tongue along the dripping blade, lapping up the jinchuuriki's blood. The most feared technique of the warriors of Jashin was also their most secret; few who saw it lived to tell the tale. Hidan's skin turned black, save for the skull mask on his face and outlines of bones on his body, which started glowing with the same blinding whiteness as his scythe.

Yugito, sensing danger, tried to close in on Hidan, but gouts of water, blasts of lightning and barriers of stone from Kakuzu blocked her way. Tenten leapt up to the ceiling, planted her feet on it, and formed five hand signs. "Doton: Kanbotsu!" _[Cave-In]_ An entire section of the ceiling above the Nibi crumbled into dozens of jagged boulders and fell on the blazing cat, burying it under a pile of rubble that it struggled to free itself from.

Meanwhile, Hidan used the rest of the blood on Tenten's katana, mixed with his own, to draw a circle on the ground with a triangle inside. Placing himself within it, Hidan drew a long spike from the hilt of his scythe. "Yugito Nii! You stand judged by my Lord Jashin!" Hidan declared. "Death would be justice, but you will yet live long enough to server a higher calling. Let the stains of sin on your soul be known to all!" Raising the spike high in the air, he drove it between his ribs into his own heart without flinching.

The Nibi, which had just clawed itself free of Tenten's ceiling collapse, froze and the room went silent. The giant cat shuddered, and thick black fluid began seeping from every pore of its body. The Nibi shook violently, and then exploded, spraying most of the room with the black ooze. Tenten managed to dodge it, but Kakuzu and his masks got drenched. In the sudden quiet, the tall man's cursing was clearly audible. Hidan's body slumped forward, falling to the floor on its side with a thud, the spike still driven through his heart.

Giving up on cleaning the goo from his body, Kakuzu slogged into the epicenter of the blast, digging around for a moment before dragging out a limp female form similarly goo-covered and dressed in a battered black bodysuit. Her chest rose and fell slowly.

"Pull that spike out of Hidan so he can reincarnate faster, will you?" Kakuzu requested of Tenten as he commanded his water mask to blast him and his unconscious prisoner and wash off the goo.

Making her way to Hidan, whose appearance had returned to normal, Tenten did as asked. Wrenching the weapon free took some muscle, as the tip had lodged in his spine, but she got it out, and less than a minute later brilliant light shone from his pores, and Tenten had to shield her eyes. When the glow faded, Hidan was whole again, his hair restored, burns gone and wounds healed. His cloak and habit underneath were still smoking and in tatters, but otherwise he was good as new. "Excellent work, Tenten," he commented as he slipped the spike back into the scythe's hilt. "Are we likely to see pursuit soon?"

Cleaning her katana, Tenten shook her head. "Kumogakure's down to a skeleton force, and they won't know anything's wrong until the next time someone looks for her, or until they realize Darui never left Sky City, which will probably happen first." Tenten was surprised to realize that she was glad Darui was in Sky City and surrounded by witnesses. He wasn't a bad guy, he just worked for one, so she was glad he wouldn't get in trouble for her actions. "I need to get back to my…" Tenten paused, swallowing hard, "my students. They…" she trailed off again.

"Tenten, is something wrong?" Hidan inquired.

"Nothing that concerns Akatsuki business; one of my students… Ken died during the exam." She shook her head to clear it. "I'll have time to grieve later, for now I need to get back to the Konohagakure party before the shadow clone I left behind dispels."

Hidan nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We need to move as well," he replied, noting that Kakuzu had finished washing off and was bundling up their prisoner. "But I'm sorry to hear that. Take the time you need to rest and grieve, when you can."

Kakuzu wandered over, Yugito over his shoulder. "Before I forget, this is for you," the tall missing-nin told Tenten, handing her a scroll from inside his robes, "be ready when the time comes."

Tenten tucked the scroll away. She ran with the pair as far as the outflow pipe outside Kumogakure, then headed east to rejoin Kaede and Shikamaru while Kakuzu and Hidan headed west with their prize.


	22. … Go the Spoils

**Chapter 22: … Go the Spoils**

* * *

_Two weeks later_

After rejoining the group of Leaf ninja departing the Land of Lightning and silently replacing her shadow clone, Tenten had travelled southwest with them. Eventually they joined up with the larger convoy of Land of Fire citizens and the remnants of the Hokage's procession. The large group moved slowly, but they were able to move the injured in greater comfort. The Hokage himself had elected to return to Konohagakure at a far more rapid pace, anxious to get home and start dealing with the fallout from the exam and its aftermath.

Shortly before they crossed the border of the Land of Lightning, the five missing Uchiha joined them. Tenten tried to ignore the suspicious looks she was getting from the older Uchiha, privately hoping that they wouldn't try to kill her before she even made it back to Konohagakure. They seemed to be biding their time, although Amaya was clearly avoiding her at their command. Understanding the stakes Tenten put up with it, though Kaede was driven to distraction when Amaya wouldn't talk to her either.

"I don't understand it sensei. Amaya spends almost all of her time with her family away from the convoy, and she won't talk to me or even look at me when I do see her!" Kaede complained.

"Amaya's dealing with a lot, Kaede," Tenten replied. "She's grieving the same as you are, and she's feeling a lot of guilt, too. She may be afraid you'll think less of her for what happened."

"I tried telling her that I don't blame her for what happened; we both know it was an accident. She just walked away."

"The time she's spending with her relatives probably has less to do with us than with clan politics. Her stature's risen pretty rapidly, and I don't doubt they want to prepare her for bigger things." Tenten hated lying to her student, but in this case it was unavoidable. "Give her some time, Kaede, and I'm sure she'll open up to us."

Tenten was waiting in her room that night at a roadside inn located in the Land of Fire when the black and white Akatsuki Zetsu rose out of the floor. If she hadn't been expecting him thanks to Kakuzu's scroll it would have been rather alarming. "Leave a shadow clone," the black half instructed her tersely.

Following the instructions, Tenten formed a clone and sent it to bed, then took the hand of Zetsu's white half. "Is this going to make me vomit again?" she asked with resignation.

"Probably!" Zetsu's white half informed her cheerfully.

"Close eyes, hold breath, summon elemental chakra and hold on tightly. Mayfly Technique not designed for living cargo. Only subject's earth affinity makes ride-along feasible. Gastro-intestinal distress likely," the black half added. Nodding, Tenten closed her eyes, filled her lungs and channeled earth chakra into her skin.

The sensation was not unlike falling, which wouldn't be so bad, but it wasn't just falling in one direction. The direction she was falling changed several times a second. Down, sideways, down again, another horizontal direction, then up. It continued like that for almost two minutes, by which time Tenten's lungs were burning, her stomach was rebelling and her inner ear had given up entirely.

"Breathe," Black Zetsu instructed her. Taking deep breaths, Tenten opened her eyes. She was incredibly dizzy, and it felt like the whole room was spinning. Spotting a bucket someone had left for her Tenten staggered over and managed to fall to her knees in front of it before puking up the contents of her stomach.

When the nausea faded and the room stopped moving, Tenten became aware of a warm, familiar presence behind her, gently rubbing her back. Turning, she saw blue eyes, blond hair and an amused grin. "Not how I wanted you to see me after all this time," she complained.

Deidara laughed and hugged her. "Don't worry. The same thing happened to me the one time I let Zetsu move me that way, un. Kami it's good to see you again, Tenten."

"Likewise," Tenten said as she drew back. "How much time do we have before the extraction starts?"

"Itachi and Kisame are running late, they won't be here for an hour or so," Deidara replied.

"Good," Tenten replied with a smile. "Because I really want to kiss you, but first I need to brush my teeth."

Deidara walked with her to his apartments in the Akatsuki base. After ridding herself of the unpleasant taste of her last meal's second coming, Tenten claimed that kiss from her blond paramour. Just being able to drop the pretense she lived under in Konohagakure was a relief. Being reunited with a man she had never dreamed she could come to love when she met him elicited an intensity of emotion that surprised her. _When did this underground hideaway become as much of a home to me as Konohagakure?_ Tenten shrugged off such philosophical musings.

There was so much to talk about, and Tenten could sense that Deidara was preoccupied with things that needed to be said, but there would be time for that after the extraction. "An hour, huh?" she inquired breathily when their lips parted. He gave her a distracted nod. "That's plenty of time." Tenten ran her fingers over his chest and then gave him a shove towards the bedroom door.

"Tenten, I-" Deidara started, but she caught up with him and pressed a finger to his lips.

"Ah, ah, there will be plenty of time to catch up once the cat's in its cage. I haven't seen enough of you, and right now I'm still not seeing enough of you," she chided him, stepping forward and working loose the catch to his Akatsuki cloak, letting it slip off his shoulders and pool around his feet.

Deidara caught her wrists in his hands. "I do love it when you take charge, un," he said, kissing her palms as the mouths in his hands gently traced their tongues over the pulse in her wrists. He grinned at her as he felt that pulse speed up.

"That's better," Tenten murmured. Maintaining his grip on her arms he drew her into the bedroom, and she absently kicked the door shut with her foot behind her.

* * *

An hour later, the membership of the Akatsuki assembled. It was the first time Tenten had stood among them in the uniform of a full Akatsuki. Freshly showered and her hair in neat buns, Tenten wore her black cloak with red clouds, her scored hitai-ate, and a ring Sasori had given her before the ceremony.

"There wasn't time to make it before you left for Konohagakure, but the ring, more than the cloak, makes you one of us," Sasori had explained.

It was a heavy silver ring. The setting was light brown, with the black kanji 'gen' _[mysterious]_ carved on it in black. When she'd asked about the meaning of the symbol, Sasori had smiled. "It's the ninth kuji-in, the only one not currently in use on another ring. We thought it appropriate for the only full member doing undercover work." Tenten wore the ring on her right index finger as Deidara did for the moment; as the eleventh member of Akatsuki she didn't yet have an assigned finger for the ring and on the Statue of the Outer Path as the older members did.

For the extraction, Tenten stood on the shoulder of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. The Leader, Deidara, Konan, Itachi, Zetsu, Tobi, Kisame, Kakuzu, Hidan and Sasori each stood on one of the ten fingers. The unmoving form of Yugito Nii lay on the ground in front of the statue. Normally Jashin's judgment killed the sinner in question, but as Jashin's avatar on earth Hidan could modify the ritual slightly. Yugito Nii was brain dead but still breathing for the moment.

"We will begin now," the Leader commanded, and Tenten let her chakra flow through the statue under her feet, feeling a green nimbus of energy spring up around her body as it did around the ten below. The massive statue's mouth opened, and from it nine blue lances of energy shot forth, engulfing the prostrate form of the Nibi's jinchuuriki. Yugito's body was lifted into the air, her eyes and mouth forced open. Red energy began to spill from those orifices, leaking back into the statue's mouth as the bijuu was slowly consumed.

Tenten focused on keeping her chakra feeding into the statue slow and steady. She could match some of the Akatsuki in physical endurance, but knew that her chakra levels were lower than theirs, and having formed a shadow clone didn't help. Focusing her senses on the extraction, Tenten was amazed by how much chakra the older members possessed. Kisame had the chakra and stamina of a jinchuuriki all by himself, and both Tobi and the Leader were contributing immense amounts of power as well.

Tobi's chakra in particular felt somehow familiar to Tenten, but mingled with the others in the room she couldn't nail down where she'd felt chakra like that before. Shrugging mentally, she let it go. It didn't matter who Tobi was behind the mask; he was a comrade. It was depressing to remember that she could trust the people in this room more than shinobi she had been born and raised with in Konohagakure, but it was true.

* * *

The extraction was entering its seventh hour when Zetsu stirred. "Leader, four shinobi intruders have breached the surface perimeter. One jounin-level, the others chuunin or genin; one of those is injured," his black half grated. Zetsu's chakra contribution was less than Tenten's, but unlike her he was keeping an eye on their surroundings as well.

"Are they aware of us?" the Leader inquired calmly.

Zetsu shook his two-colored head. "They're just passing through, but their path will take them close to us and the injured one is using sensor techniques. They will likely notice the chakra emanating from the ritual as they pass by."

The Leader considered that. "Tenten, disengage from the extraction, go to the surface and eliminate the threat. The white Zetsu will provide backup. Don't let any of them escape."

Tenten's skin prickled as she drew her chakra back into herself and the green halo faded from around her. "Yes, Leader-sama," she said quietly, hopping down from the statue's shoulder.

"Tenten, take this." That was Tobi, and when she turned he took something from his robe and tossed it to her. Catching it reflexively she saw it was a mask, this one a white ceramic with two eye holes and a raised spiral pattern similar to Tobi's orange mask. Nodding her thanks to the older Akatsuki Tenten slipped it on, taking her hair out of the buns and braiding it as she ran through the tunnels to the surface.

When she left the tunnels there were a trio of white Zetsu waiting for her, and they lead her through the trees towards their targets. When they drew close the white Zetsu melded into the boles of nearby trees, and Tenten crept silently through the foliage, suppressing her chakra presence by habit. Reaching a cliff edge, she peered over it into the gorge below. On the banks of the stream that had carved out the gorge, three shinobi were walking, one leading a horse drawing a cart that carried the fourth, who lay on a bed of straw.

Tenten recognized them immediately. _What are the odds?_ It made a strange kind of sense, since the Akatsuki base did lie between Kumogakure and Sunagakure, but even locals didn't use the gorge trail often, which made Tenten wonder why Sabaku no Temari had decided to use it to bring Team Sand Crab home from the Chuunin Exam. Shaking her head, Tenten reminded herself that it didn't matter. Sira – who rode in the cart – was crippled, but her chakra senses were undiminished, and with Yugito's extraction filling the air around the Akatsuki base with chakra, it was only a matter of time before she or Temari felt it.

It did present Tenten with a conundrum, though. Temari she'd happily kill, but Rahl, Poe and Sira were just children, and friends of her students. Withdrawing to the tree line, she signaled to the white Zetsu. "We're taking them alive," she informed them.

One stirred. "Leader-sama said to eliminate them."

"He said not to let them get away," Tenten reminded the plant men. "The jounin leading them is Sabaku no Temari, the Kazekage's sister. She'll make a useful hostage. The other three are genin, and I'd prefer not to kill kids. Watch out for the tall one wrapped in bandages; he has the Scorch Release." The Zetsu, which were half plant, looked nervous, and Tenten smiled. "I'll take care of Temari. One of you get onto that cart and take the girl hostage. Neither of those boys will risk her life attacking you."

Once she had explained the plan, both Tenten and the Zetsu dove underground. Locking onto Temari's presence, Tenten slid through dirt and rock, tunneling under the gorge trail. Temari was the real threat she had to deal with. A year ago Tenten wouldn't have engaged Temari by choice; the woman's powerful wind ninjutsu was a fighting style for which she'd had no effective counter back then. But she'd learned a lot from Deidara, and Temari was about to discover that the hard way; Tenten had always been good with traps and ambushes, but mastery of earth ninjutsu had given her even more options.

Still, Temari was a jounin, so when she felt the ground shift underneath her she jumped up in the air an instant before the earth gave way under her. Tenten was waiting at the bottom of the pit she'd created, though, and she threw a kunai with one hand as she swung her long, braided leather whip with the other. The kunai flew straight and true, lodging itself in the hinge of Temari's metal war fan, frustrating her effort to snap it open. The whip wrapped around Temari's ankles, and when Tenten yanked hard, Temari reversed course and was dragged down into the hole in the ground with a startled yell.

"Akatsuki coward," Temari growled on seeing Tenten's cloak, swinging the stuck-closed fan at Tenten's masked face with enough force to crack her skull open. Tenten sank back into the rock ahead of the blow, the fan's metal edge clanging off of stone. Then she used her earth chakra to close the hole she'd opened, leaving Temari lodged in the ground from the neck down. As Tenten rose from the ground holding the Sand jounin's stolen fan, she watched Temari's look of rage change to alarm, and guessed that the white Zetsu she'd assigned to latch onto Temari and drain her chakra was getting to work.

Meanwhile, things weren't going well for the Sand genin. One of the white Zetsu was perched on the cart with a kunai to Sira's throat. The other one had been attacked and consumed by Poe's puppet Black Ant, which turned out to be a strategic error on the puppeteer's part, as the white Zetsu simply merged with the wood that formed the puppet's body and took it over.

Gripping Temari's war fan Tenten snuck up behind Rahl, who was glowing with the power of his Scorch aura and glaring at the Zetsu holding Sira. Behind Tenten Temari tried to call a warning to Rahl, but a cold white hand snaked up from the ground and covered her mouth as a pale head rose from the earth behind hers. With a careful swing of the fan, Tenten struck Rahl across the back of the head, and the Sand genin dropped to the ground. The other two Zetsu got to work draining Sira and Poe of chakra, and within minutes all four Sand ninja were out cold.

* * *

By the time Tenten and Zetsu moved their prisoners into cells in the base, relieved them of their weapons and equipment and retrieved two sets of chakra-eating manacles for Temari and Rahl, the extraction was over. When Tenten made her way back to the chamber holding the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path most of the Akatsuki had already dispersed, and Zetsu was slinking off with the corpse of Yugito Nii. Tenten noted that one of the statue's nine eyes was now wide open.

Tenten hooked Tobi's loaned mask to her belt as she entered and discovered that the Leader, Konan and Sasori were waiting for her. "Zetsu tells us you brought back some souvenirs," the Leader commented. "Those weren't your orders, Tenten."

Tenten stood her ground. "Circumstances on the field changed, I made a judgment call. If Sasori-sama doesn't see a use in having Sabaku no Temari as a prisoner I'll gladly cut her throat. You may want to see her first, though. I found something interesting while searching her for weapons." Tenten paused. "As for the other three, they're genin; children. I thought our goal was to bring down the kages, not butcher victims of the system. If I have to kill genin it's going to be because I don't have a choice, and I had one here."

Konan was fighting a smile, and the Leader seemed momentarily taken aback. "I'll agree with Tenten that the Kazekage's sister is a useful hostage," Sasori interjected mildly.

"I think we can handle a few genin as guests," Konan added. "Maybe we can even take a shot at deprogramming them."

The Leader was silent for a moment. "I'm surrounded by optimists," he said with resignation, but not unkindly. "Do as you wish," he decided, before heading off with Konan as Deidara joined them.

"Will you join us for dinner, Tenten? We have a lot to discuss," Sasori inquired.

Glancing across the cavern, she saw Itachi and Kisame leaving. "Of course, sensei, I'll drop by in a bit, but I need to talk to Itachi before he leaves." Sasori and Deidara looked surprised, but nodded and left. Tenten jogged after Itachi, catching him in the hallway. "Itachi-sama!" Both men stopped, Kisame looking at her quizzically as she jogged up to them.

"Can I help you, Tenten?" Itachi asked in his serious, quiet voice.

Tenten nodded. "I have a question for you. It's about one of my students, Uchiha Amaya. Can we talk privately?"

Itachi nodded. "I wondered if you would seek me out. Word reached us of what happened at the Chuunin Exam. Come, my quarters aren't far and we can talk there." He glanced at his towering fish-faced companion. "I'll catch up with you, Kisame."

Kisame nodded, his normally forbidding face becoming almost gentle. "My condolences about your other student, Tenten," he offered.

"Thank you, Kisame-sama," she managed. The blue-skinned man departed, and Tenten walked with Itachi to his apartments. On entering, she took in the sparse accommodations and got the sense that this was a place Itachi didn't return to often or identify with much. The bare minimum of plain furniture and a small hoard of ninja gear was the extent of its contents.

"Ask away," Itachi offered as he slipped in the kitchen, preparing some water for tea.

Tenten took a deep breath. "Itachi-sama, can you tell me what a Mangekyo sharingan is?"

Itachi's movements in the kitchen stilled. He looked at her, his dark eyes showing surprise. "That is a dangerous name. Where did you hear it?"

"Fugaku, Sasuke, and Elders Taka and Chihuya were discussing it with Anko as something that happened to Amaya," she explained. "They didn't know I was listening." She paused. "After Ken died I held Amaya in my arms before Sasuke spirited her away. Her sharingan was different."

Itachi gestured to some blank paper and charcoal pencils on his desk. "Can you sketch what they looked like?"

Tenten wandered over and drew what she remembered of Amaya's eye after Ken's death, a red sharingan with three black circles instead of tomoe, equidistant around and touching the pupil in the center.

When Itachi looked at it he sighed. "This student of yours who died at Amaya's hands, Isamu Ken; would you describe him as her best friend?"

Tenten pushed down her grief and nodded. "I would. My genin were very close." When the water started boiling he brought it over to the room's low table and poured tea for both of them. "Thank you," Tenten murmured.

"Do Sasuke or Fugaku know you saw her eyes change?"

Tenten nodded unhappily. "I suspect my name will be appearing in some white Bingo Books as soon as they get back to Konohagakure," she muttered.

"Then you're already involved. I would ask you to treat what I'm about to tell you as you would any other Akatsuki secret and not discuss it with anyone but me."

"Of course, Itachi-sama," she agreed.

"The Mangekyo sharingan is a more powerful version of my clan's dojutsu," Itachi explained. "It grants abilities beyond what the ordinary sharingan is capable of. It also comes at a terrible cost. To obtain it, an Uchiha must take the life of someone they love."

"Oh kami," Tenten breathed. "But Amaya would never do something like that purposefully."

"The Mangekyo sharingan does not require motive. I had no wish to kill Shusui, but the intent doesn't matter, only the act." As Tenten watched Itachi's sharingan activated, then changed, turning into a three-bladed fan wheel with a dot of red in the middle. "Your student is in danger if she has awakened these cursed eyes. The Hokage covets them; it was the true reason for my departure. I will share the story with you, if you wish." When Tenten nodded, he continued.

"Shusui was the rarest of Mangekyo sharingan wielders; he came by his gift honestly. A fellow shinobi that he counted among his closest friends betrayed the village, and Shusui was forced to kill him, becoming the first Uchiha in two generations to possess these eyes. Orochimaru and his right hand Danzo Shimura have long been obsessed with study of the sharingan, but the Mangekyo even more so. In time Danzo tried to take Shusui's eyes from him, and succeeded in claiming one. Shusui, who was my cousin and dearest friend, shared the truth with me and asked me to end his life and destroy his remaining eye. When I refused he attacked me and gave me no choice. I killed him and in so doing awakened my own Mangekyo sharingan. Knowing what I did, I left the village. It disturbs me to hear that Orochimaru has formed some pact with the Uchiha elders; I thank you for this information, and I will look into it."

"You say Amaya's in danger from the Hokage?" Tenten queried.

"Not immediately. Amaya was an infant when I left. She's perhaps fourteen now?" Tenten nodded. "She has several years then. Orochimaru will not move against her until she reaches an adult's physical maturity. If she was the exam's champion I imagine she will be promoted to chuunin. Keep an eye on her and do what you can to help her become stronger. I will pass on to you through Sasori some training materials that will be useful to her."

"But how can I protect her from Orochimaru?"

Itachi looked at her curiously. "That is not your mission."

"I can do my job and protect my students at the same time," Tenten shot back heatedly. "I love my girls, and I'll be damned if I let that old snake get his claws into Amaya."

Itachi's lips quirked into what almost looked like a smile. "I see. Ultimately, Amaya is not safe in Konohagakure as long as Orochimaru rules there. You can either convince her to leave between now and when he tries to take her, or failing that you wait until he moves against her and thwart him. In either event, if you bring her to me I will take her on as an apprentice."

"I understand. Thank you, Itachi-sama," Tenten said, finishing her cup of tea.

"I'm happy to help. If you have other questions let me know," Itachi replied, rising to his feet. "I need to go catch up with Kisame, and I'm sure Sasori is waiting for you."

* * *

When Tenten arrived at Sasori's apartment, he already had strips of roasted lamb, flat bread and a salad waiting on the table. While they ate Tenten answered Sasori's questions about the Chuunin Exam and its aftermath, speaking truthfully about the Uchiha clan's likely antipathy toward her, but leaving out the part about the Mangekyo sharingan. She suspected Sasori knew she was holding back, but he seemed to accept it.

When the food was finished, Sasori broached the topic at hand. "Some information has come my way that pertains to you, Tenten, and the next job you can do for the Akatsuki. It might have an added benefit of offering you some protection from the Uchiha, which it sounds like you need."

"Sasori, that job was risky enough before we knew the Uchiha were gunning for her, un!" Deidara protested.

Sasori sighed. "We've been over this, Deidara. I can ask her to do it, or the Leader can make it an order. Either way it needs to be attempted and Tenten is the only one who can take advantage of this opportunity. Your objectivity is compromised on this matter."

"My objectivity? Screw objectivity, it's not just dangerous, it's demeaning," Deidara shot back with as much anger in his voice as Tenten had ever heard him direct at Sasori.

Tenten cleared her throat. "Would either of you like to share the topic of discussion with me so I can start getting upset, too?"

"Of course, Tenten," Sasori apologized." This isn't widely known yet even in Konohagakure, but Hyuuga Hiashi has fallen ill. It's a wasting sickness, and regrettably incurable. He'll be dead inside six months."

"Oh no," Tenten breathed, thinking of Neji. Her former teammate had a complicated relationship with his uncle, had hated the man as a child, but in the last six years they had reconciled and built a relationship on trust and mutual respect, if not love. "That's terrible news." She paused. "What does it have to do with me?"

"Hiashi knows that neither of his daughters is ready to become the clan head. Hinata is too weak and doesn't have the temperament to rule. Hanabi is still far too young. He could name her heir, but he's spent his life wresting some measure of power from the clan's council of elders, and that would all be lost; the elders would rule in truth again. In order to prevent that, Hiashi is going to adopt his nephew Neji and name him heir."

Tenten took that in silently. The pieces fell into place with Sasori's statement, and Tenten knew why Deidara was upset, why he'd seemed preoccupied, even sad as they'd greeted each other and made love before the extraction ceremony.

"Your reports since returning to Konohagakure have indicated that the Hyuuga boy's interest in you has not lessened." For a selfish moment Tenten wished she hadn't mentioned it to anyone in Akatsuki. She knew where this was going, but she wanted Sasori to say it. "Your mission will be to rekindle your relationship with Hyuuga Neji, and use it to obtain intelligence. Once Neji takes over his uncle's duties, he will sit on the village's Inner Council."

Tenten nodded mechanically. She could see the strategic value of what Sasori was proposing. Konohagakure's Village Council was a large, almost legislative body composed of village leaders, clan heads and civilian representatives that met just once or twice a month to decide major issues. The Hokage's Inner Council, by contrast, was a smaller body composed of his closest advisors, including the clan heads of the Sarutobi, Uchiha… and Hyuuga. The Inner Council met several times a week and advised the Hokage on virtually every decision of import made in the village. Neji would be involved in the most secret and important meetings in Konohagakure.

None of that changed the cold reality that was squeezing Tenten's heart like a vise; Sasori was asking her to betray two men she loved. "I… I can't do that," she looked at him pleadingly. "I'm not that kind of kunoichi, sensei. It won't work."

"Oh, I think it will. You sell your ability to disseminate short, Tenten. I'm not asking you to seduce a man with no interest in you, merely to drop your 'wounded victim' act and let him back in," Sasori countered reasonably. "You will of course need to be cautious spying on a Hyuuga. I'm not expecting you to take risks that could compromise your cover. This mission will also solve your Uchiha problem, at least in the short term. They'll be wary of targeting you if you surround yourself with all-seeing eyes."

The hell of it was that Sasori was right. Involving herself more openly with the Hyuuga would give the Uchiha pause, at least from sending anyone openly affiliated with them after her. Letting Neji back in would work, too; he trusted her as much as anyone he wasn't related to. He'd never see her betrayal coming. She wouldn't even have to stoop to looking through his documents; Neji had a habit of using Tenten as a sounding board and talking his problems over with her dating back to when they were genin, and she didn't imagine he'd stop once he was on the Inner Council.

Tenten looked into Sasori's implacable eyes, and the rest of her objections went unspoken. _I love Deidara and doing this will tear us apart. Neji's still my friend and I'll hate myself for the rest of my life if I use him like this._ From Sasori's perspective, from Akatsuki's perspective, the mission and the information were more important than what getting it would do to her. "If I refuse Leader-sama will order me to do it, won't he?" Tenten asked heavily, and Sasori nodded. As a full member Tenten was theoretically equal to Sasori; he couldn't give her orders, though she still deferred to him by habit. The Leader, on the other hand, stood above the other members. He could command her to seduce Neji and use him to spy on Orochimaru's Inner Council.

Sasori looked at her searchingly. "Tenten, if you truly cannot bring yourself to carry out this mission, I may be able to convince the Leader of an alternative plan," he said at long last. "Deidara, I'm sure, would help you carry it out."

Deidara looked eager. "You didn't mention a plan B, un. What is it?"

Sasori gave him a reproachful look. "I wanted to give Tenten the choice." Then he looked at her. "If we can't get information out of Hyuuga Neji, we can't let him become clan head. You know as well as I do he'd be far too effective at the job. One of Konohagakure's biggest weaknesses is the mutual animosity between the Hyuuga clan's main and branch families. He could mend that break. I suspect I could convince the Leader to allow us to assassinate Hyuuga Neji instead."

Tenten felt like he'd punched her in the gut. "What?" she managed.

Sasori shrugged. "If Hyuuga Neji were to die shortly after his uncle, leadership of the clan would pass to his cousin Hinata. A painfully shy girl who faints at the drop of a hat and can't speak without stuttering would be a disaster as a clan head. Further weakening the Hyuuga clan might be an acceptable alternative to gaining insight into the workings of the Inner Council."

Tenten closed her eyes and sighed. "What a perfect trap you've woven around me, Sasori," she observed bitterly. "Your symbol should be a spider, not a scorpion." Three unappealing choices faced her.

By oath and deed Tenten was committed to the Akatsuki now. If the Leader gave her an order and she refused it, she wouldn't leave the base alive. It would probably make the Rinnegan wielder sad to kill her, and Konan wouldn't speak to him for a while, but he'd do it.

If she went along with Sasori's 'alternative' plan, she could keep Deidara and she wouldn't have to betray Neji's feelings for her. She'd just have to let him die. Deidara would do it for her; she wouldn't even have to get her hands dirty. She knew her blond bomber would succeed, too. Neji was a skilled shinobi, but against Deidara he wouldn't have a chance. Deidara would never get within Neji's range and a large enough explosion would blast right through Neji's Kaiten. Tenten shuddered as she imagined it. _I can't… I can't be that selfish._

If she accepted the mission she'd lose Deidara, along with most of her self-respect, but insight into Orochimaru's inner circle would bring nearer the day when his grip on Konohagakure would be broken. Neji would find out the truth eventually, and when he did it would hurt him a great deal. _I'll lose them both. They'll hate me, but they'll be alive._

"I'll take the damned mission," Tenten said quietly, "and damn you for doing this to me, Sasori." Rising to her feet, she headed for the door.

"Tenten!" Deidara called after her, but she didn't stop, slamming the door behind her and stalking down the hallway. Hearing the door open behind her and footsteps following she halted. Deidara walked up behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders. "Tenten, talk to me," he said.

"I'm sorry, Deidara," she said quietly. "I love you, I hope you know that."

Deidara's sigh sent warm air washing over her neck. "Then let me kill the Hyuuga brat, un," he said quietly. "You don't have to do this, Tenten; you don't have to sell yourself for Akatsuki. They're asking too much of you," when she didn't answer immediately he squeezed her shoulders. "Listen, I can go off the sick old man and his nephew before you even make it back to Konohagakure. You won't have to see him again, Sasori gets the outcome he wants, and everyone's happy, un."

Tenten's shoulders shook, and she cursed herself for letting him know that she was crying. The selfish part of her wanted so badly to say yes, to give him permission to do it, but she couldn't. "If I buy my happiness with Neji's life, it will taint everything we have together," Tenten whispered.

"And going to his bed again wouldn't?" Deidara demanded. "You know that's what Sasori's asking you to do, un."

"Please, Deidara, don't-," she choked out.

"Don't what? Don't fight for you?" he asked. "Tenten, when I defected from Iwagakure, when Itachi and Sasori recruited me into Akatsuki, I thought I was giving up my chance at ever having someone to love, and I thought it had to be that way, at least until the Tsuchikage was dead and my village was free again. Then you got in the way of my mission in Sunagakure, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you too, and I will fight for you. Neither Sasori nor the Leader has any right to sell you to the Hyuuga for information. Let me fix this. I don't want to lose you, un."

"Deidara, it's not that," she said quietly. "When Sasori asked me to join Akatsuki I said I wouldn't let the good people in Konohagakure become the targets. I want the Hokage gone, but if I let innocent people die for that I'm no better than he is. Neji's one of the good guys, Deidara; he's one of the leaders Konohagakure's going to need when Orochimaru is gone. He's also my friend and a comrade. What kind of a person would I be if I let him die when I could prevent it?"

Deidara's hands left her shoulders, and she winced at his flat, emotionless tone when he spoke. "I understand, Tenten," he said. "You've known him since you were genin together; we met less than a year ago, un. It's foolish of me to expect that you wouldn't have any feelings for him at all."

Tenten wished she couldn't tell just from his voice that he was shutting down emotionally, just like shinobi were trained to do, like she'd failed to do. "Deidara-"

"You don't have to say anything else, Tenten. It's all right." He paused. "Good luck with your mission, un." His footsteps faded away behind her. _I knew I'd lose them both,_ Tenten reminded herself as he walked away. She managed to stay on her feet until he was gone and then sank to her knees, leaning against the wall. _I knew this would happen._ Foreknowledge was cold comfort as she felt her heart shatter.

A spiteful part of her wanted to blame Deidara for not mentioning the mission when she'd first arrived, but then she hadn't given him much of a chance, and he probably hadn't thought she'd take the mission.

_How does Ino do this?_ Tenten wondered. Yamanaka Ino excelled at what Tenten had always thought of as 'stereotypical' kunoichi missions; assuming a false identity – usually a civilian – and obtaining information and trust through deception and seduction. Tenten had never understood how the stunning blonde could so easily establish a mental separation between her relationship with Shikamaru at home and her work in the field, which often involved wrapping men around her fingers in and out of the bedchamber. It was something Tenten had doubted she could ever do. _I have to try, though,_ she realized bleakly. _If I'm stuck with this damned mission, I have to do it right. I'll make Neji believe the lie without hesitation. I'll be Ino._ As miserable as she felt, being Tenten wasn't all that attractive a prospect right now, so why not? _I'll be Ino._

* * *

_Author's Note: New and exciting (and depressing) things happening! Yay! I hadn't realized how tired I was of writing a ton of fight scenes back to back until it was over and I could change pace to Tenten/Akatsuki-centric intrigue. I've packed a lot of stuff into the last few chapters, hopefully I'm not confusing anyone (let me know if I am). I generally suck at writing about 'feelings', but hopefully the second half of this chapter is believable._

_With chapter 21 we've passed 100 reviews! Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews!_


	23. Wheels Within Wheels

**Chapter 23: Wheels Within Wheels**

* * *

Sasori of the Red Sand paused in the hall that was home to the Akatsuki base's prisoner cells, considering what he'd learned. Tenten's initial report on the prisoners she'd brought in had been interesting, and after talking to some sources in Sunagakure, he was ready to get to work. A week had passed since Tenten and Zetsu had captured the Kazekage's elder sister and her genin.

Opening the first cell's thick steel door, Sasori stepped inside. He felt a slight sense of déjà vu that brought him back to his first conversation with Tenten in a cell like this. Temari was sitting on the bare stone floor as Tenten had been, similarly unclothed and restrained with the seal-inscribed manacles that leeched excess chakra flow and turned it into heat. Judging by the redness and blisters around Temari's wrists and ankles, she hadn't been as cautious in testing them as Tenten had.

As soon as Temari's eyes adjusted to the light from outside and she saw who Sasori was, her green eyes turned flinty. Disdainfully, she spat at his feet. "I should have guessed you were behind this, traitor."

Sasori let the door swing closed behind him. "Of the two of us, Sabaku no Temari, the one who has done more harm to Sunagakure is not me," he replied calmly.

"You murdered my grandfather, the Sandaime Kazekage, you miserable turncoat."

"A service to my village that I take pride in. I would have killed your father too, if your little brother hadn't done it first."

Temari took a deep breath, reining in her anger. "Yeah, I bet you're loving this," she muttered, gesturing to the state she was in. "There's nowhere you can hide from what's coming, Sasori. You've crossed a line, attacking me. We allowed you to slink off into the shadows after you stabbed the Third in the back because one rogue puppeteer doesn't matter much in the scheme of things. But for this, you and Akatsuki will drown in sand."

Sasori just laughed. "Oh, that's precious. You think I'm scared of Gaara? The only reason he's not dead yet is because a foreigner saved him. The rule of the Sabaku family has made Sunagakure so weak that a Leaf ninja had to rescue your precious little brother. No, Gaara will meet his end soon, and the reign of the Sabaku will fall soon after."

"Then get on with it and kill me," she hissed, "unless your plan was to talk me to death."

Sasori smiled pleasantly. "You wound me, Temari. I don't need to do anything as cruel as killing you when I have you in the palm of my hand already. Even if I wanted to, I would never kill a woman in your condition." Temari grimaced, following his gaze to her stomach, which was just starting to swell. "You are perhaps four months along? I'm surprised you weren't taken off active duty already, although I suppose escorting students to the Chuunin Exam isn't really a combat mission. No wonder you were taken so easily; you're already losing chakra control, aren't you?" Pregnancy had a number of deleterious effects on kunoichi starting in the second trimester: chakra levels and control plunged, and overuse of chakra could damage the fetus.

"Go to hell," was Temari's only reply.

"No, I won't kill you, Temari," Sasori continued as if she hadn't spoken. "You're far too valuable to me alive. I wonder what your brother will do to ensure your safety."

Temari laughed harshly. "You don't know Gaara very well for someone who hates him. You think he loves his big sister? He'll laugh at your demands before he kills whoever brought them to him."

"Oh, I was thinking of your other brother," Sasori said, his voice deadly quiet. "I think Kankuro would do quite a bit to save the sister he loves so much and the child she carries. After all, we both know the baby is his."

"That's disgusting," Temari spat, but Sasori saw the momentary flicker of fear in her eyes.

"Your secret isn't quite as secret as you think Temari. No one in Sunagakure would speak of it openly for fear of the Kazekage's wrath, but rumors spread outside of your hearing. After all you Sabaku are practically royalty, so siblings' bedding each other isn't that farfetched."

"That's a filthy lie! Who the hell have you been listening to?" Temari raged.

"You're not as subtle as you imagine, Temari. Plenty of people have noticed that you and Kankuro are closer than is seemly for a brother and sister." He held up a hand to forestall her objections. "I'm not judging you, Temari. It's understandable. After all, I can't imagine there are many men suicidal enough to court the sister of the Monster of the Bloody Sands. It must have been frustrating growing up wealthy, powerful, beautiful as your mother – and completely alone. I'm not surprised you were drawn to the one good man in your life and he to you, even if he was your brother."

"So tell me this truthfully Temari: who do you think Kankuro will pick? The woman he loves and the child she bears, or the brother that he fears and despises?"

Sasori watched calmly as Temari's defenses crumbled, her gaze dropping to the floor. She knew the answer. "You think you understand?" she demanded in a quaking voice. "You know nothing, Sasori. You don't know what it was like to grow up in that house. Our mother was dead, and our father was too busy being Kazekage to fulfill any of his responsibilities as a parent other than berating us for not living up to his standards. All we had was a little brother who threatened to kill us from the time he could talk, who drove away or killed every caretaker we had before we could even get to know them. Baki was the closest thing to a parent we ever had, and even then his job was to keep Gaara under control, not do anything for us. So yes, Kankuro and I only ever had each other, and yes I love him as a man and a brother, and I'll be damned a hundred times over before I let you use him!"

Temari started forming the hand signs of Sunagakure's suicide jutsu despite the smoke rising from her skin as the manacles heated up. Sasori knew if he let her finish, her wind chakra would be focused in her lungs and then directed outward explosively, detonating her chest like a bomb. Stretching out his left hand he formed chakra strings connected to her limbs and forced her hands apart, interrupting the jutsu. Temari threw her head back, trying to crack her skull open against the stone wall, but Sasori formed more threads and caught her, lifting her body up like a puppet.

Sasori swiftly stepped forward and pressed his right hand to Temari's temple as she looked at him fearfully. For this, he didn't have to bother with paper as he had with Tenten. A true fuuinjutsu master could visualize the seal he wished to create, form it out of pure chakra, and apply it with a touch. Sasori did so, sending his obedience seal worming into Temari's brain.

"You don't get off that lightly, Sabaku no Temari," Sasori said calmly. "You family has done grievous harm to Sunagakure, and you will do some good for the village before you die even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming every step of the way. Now, you are forbidden to attempt to kill or harm yourself or your child in any way. You will not use any jutsu or attempt to mold chakra without my permission. You will not attempt to escape. Do you understand?"

Sasori released the chakra strings holding her fast, and Temari staggered back from him. He watched her hands twitch, and then saw the look of horror that stole across her face as her body refused to obey her. Sasori knew she would be discovering that her mind went blank when she tried to access her chakra, and that her muscles would freeze if she tried to harm herself. "What have you done to me?" she demanded.

"Handed down your sentence," Sasori informed her. "Your ancestors brought prosperity and freedom to Sunagakure; your brother, father and grandfather have pissed on that legacy and brought fear and oppression to our people," he paused, smiling slightly. "You should be honored, Temari. You'll be the first Sabaku in four generations to serve the people again instead of oppressing them."

With a wave of his hand he loosed Temari's shackles, revealing the burns ringing her wrists and ankles. "Sit down and I'll heal those." Powerless to resist Temari obeyed, and watched as Sasori started healing her burns.

Sasori knew that every instinct she had would be screaming at her to flee, to strike him, or tear him apart with blades of wind. But as she struggled in the coming days, Temari would find that mental fuuinjutsu was nothing like genjutsu. It required physical contact, but the result was an actual seal, tiny and marked with exquisite care into the tissue of the brain itself. Making a mistake with mental fuuinjutsu would kill the target, which is why Sasori had extracted from Tenten an oath that she wouldn't attempt it until he deemed her ready before taking her on as a student. But when it worked its power was absolute.

When the burns were replaced with pink and raw but healing skin, Sasori rose to his feet. "You should get some rest," he advised her before turning to the door, which swung open.

"How long?" Sasori paused in the threshold, turning back as Temari glared at him. "How long will I be like this?" she demanded.

"Until your debt to our people is paid," he responded firmly, and then let the door swing shut behind him.

* * *

The fine white sand of the Uchiha clan compound's courtyard dedicated to sparring was deep and soft, and did a good job of padding the impact when bodies fell onto it. But it was still the ground, and hitting it still hurt. A puff of sand flew away from Amaya as she struck the ground again, landing hard on her shoulder. She'd been making friends with the ground since dawn, and it was nearly lunchtime, the sun high in the sky above them.

"Keep going," her teacher instructed her, and Amaya got up with a groan. Her sparring partner was ruthless, and foot-shaped bruises on her sore ribs testified to his encouragement when she didn't get up fast enough after a fall.

Amaya reflected on more innocent days when she'd once thought that Tenten-sensei was a brutal instructor. Academy students mostly sparred with each other and when they faced their instructors the chuunin teaching them held back. Meeting Tenten-sensei, who didn't fight them with kid gloves during the bell test and in training afterward, had been a rude awakening. She'd never injured any of them, but Amaya could remember plenty of times her sensei's fist or foot had been the last thing she'd seen before an involuntary nap when she'd made a mistake or missed a block. She learned later that Tenten had been trained the same way by Maito Gai.

Tenten was a model of restraint compared to Sasuke, though. As soon as Amaya was on her feet he came after her again. She had the sharingan, but so did he. Sasuke could read her movements as easily as she read his, and he was faster, taller and stronger. They were training solely with taijutsu, since turning the sand around them into glass wasn't the purpose of the exercise. Forced onto the defensive immediately, Amaya dodged or blocked six moves before Sasuke swept her legs out from under her and she ate sand again. Against her far more experienced opponent, she considered anything over five moves a victory.

Amaya dragged herself to her feet again, ignoring the accumulated aches of the bruises all over her body. She accepted the pain, internalized it. _I killed Ken. This is what I deserve._ For her elders and Sasuke, the merciless training they were putting her through was about making her stronger and teaching her to control the Mangekyo sharingan. For Amaya, though, the pain and the isolation were different. They were penance.

She'd been on the road for a month and back in the village for a few days, but she still saw Ken die every night when she closed her eyes. Killing Ken was bad enough, but finding out that his death had given her the forbidden Mangekyo sharingan – something she hadn't even known existed – was something she still struggled to come to terms with.

Two more reunions with the ground later Amaya was dodging Sasuke's fist when a now-familiar burning sensation erupted behind her eyes. Amaya tried to push it down, to control it as she controlled her regular sharingan, but her body wouldn't listen to her, and the surface of her eyes tingled as they changed. She watched Sasuke frown and then form a one-handed seal.

Burning, agonizing pain flashed through Amaya's head. It felt like a grenade detonating inside her skull. A scream escaped her lips, and she fell to her hands and knees. Her vision was blurry for several long moments, and her ears were ringing. She felt a fist grip the front of her training gi and drag her to her feet.

"You need to control your eyes, Amaya," Sasuke scolded her. "You're an Uchiha; you control the sharingan, it doesn't control you. You can't let the Mangekyo sharingan form without your will; if it happens in real combat and someone sees it your life will be forfeit."

"I understand," she replied. "I'll do better." _I deserve this,_ she reminded herself as the pain faded.

Absently, Amaya rubbed her neck, feeling the slightly raised skin at the back of her neck just below the hairline. She couldn't see the seal without mirrors, but it was square shaped, with one vertical bar on the left and three horizontal bars on the right, the middle one split in two. For the most part her hair hid it from view.

The Uchiha clan head Fugaku had applied it the night after they fled from Sky City. He could activate it, as could Sasuke and her grandparents, inflicting excruciating pain and disrupting her chakra flow. It shut down her sharingan, and they activated it every time she got stressed enough to let the Mangekyo come out by instinct.

They all had different ways of inducing that stress. Her grandparents were genjutsu masters, so they trapped her in one harrowing scenario after another until she lost control. The few times she'd trained with Fugaku he'd dragged her to the mountain of the summoned hawks and let angry birds who remembered being fallen on chase her around the slopes and crevices for hours. She usually came back from those trips covered in cuts from beak and claw. Sasuke just beat her black and blue until she was too tired and stressed to hold back the Mangekyo sharingan. The training sessions always ended the same way, with blinding pain that brought tears to her eyes, but she was lasting longer now, at least.

Amaya was also starting to suffer from periodic migraine headaches even without the seal being activated, but she didn't complain. _I deserve this._

"We're done for now," Sasuke instructed Amaya. "You have to be at the Hokage's offices this afternoon."

"Right," Amaya had been trying to forget about that. Today was the day that the Hokage would be promoting the genin deemed worthy to be chuunin, and she'd been dreading it all week. Kaede could say kind words about not blaming her for Ken's death, but Amaya knew the Aburame girl must hate her as much as she hated herself. She also knew that Kaede was very perceptive, and was terrified her teammate would notice something different about her since Ken's death.

After a shower and a change into some nicer clothes with sleeves and pants long enough to hide the bruises covering her body, Amaya headed to the Hokage's tower. Entering the tower, the Uchiha girl headed up to the Hokage's office. Outside the office Tenten and Kaede were already waiting. For a moment Amaya was surprised to see that the lobby was actually fairly crowded.

Ebisu was there with Moegi, Udon and Konohamaru, the latter of whom glared daggers at Kaede and Amaya. Genma was there with the Inuzuka triplets. Their fight with Grun had knocked a lot of the arrogance and aggression out of them. Haruko and Hikaru both still looked sad and haunted. Hiroko, the only one whose ninken survived the exam, didn't look much better. They were young enough that they'd probably have the opportunity to bond with another ninken, but for the moment they were still mourning their dead partners.

Sarutobi Asuma was there as well along with all three of his students, Hyuuga Hanabi, Moroshi Tanai and Nara Shimi. Amaya wondered for a moment why they were here, before remembering that they'd been forbidden to enter the Chuunin Exam by Hanabi's father, and had been evaluated privately at home while the other teams were in the Land of Lightning.

Hanabi was a shorter, skinner and angrier looking version of her big sister Hinata, her hair darker than Hinata's and worn tied off at the end similar to Neji's hairstyle. Unlike Hinata she wore her hitai-ate on her forehead.

Tanai's spiky, dark green hair was also quite long, falling in sharp waves to his waist. His eyes were a lighter shade of emerald green, and lime green tattoos in crescent moon arcs adorned his face, stretching from the corners of his eyes to his temples. He wore armor that was considered old fashioned in Konohagakure, consisting of overlapping plates of green-lacquered metal that covered his torso and upper arms and legs. Besides Tanai's clan, only the Akamichi still wore that kind of armor. Tanai didn't wear a hitai-ate headband, instead his steel plate with the village's logo was part of his chest armor.

Like the rest of his team Tanai was two years older than Amaya, and she'd never sparred against him, but she knew he was one of the most promising young shinobi of the Moroshi clan. The Moroshi were the youngest clan in Konohagakure, formed after the fall of Kusagakure during the Third Shinobi World War. Among its members were several shinobi including Tanai who possessed what had once been Kusagakure's most feared kekkei genkai, the Grass Release. Tanai was the oldest member of the clan with the kekkei genkai born in Konohagakure. Some of his older relatives had been 'adopted' as children, and it was an open secret that the young women of the Grass Release bloodline like Tanai's mother who were spared from the slaughter of their fellow villagers had been married off to Leaf ninja who formed the Moroshi clan and 'encouraged' to conceive multiple children.

Nara Shimi, one of Shikamaru's relatives, was sixteen and the only female Nara currently on active duty. Few Nara women possessed the aptitude for their clan's shadow ninjutsu necessary to become shinobi, but Shimi was one of the exceptions. She actually wore her dark hair shorter than most of the men in her clan, cropped close enough that it stood up in abbreviated spikes. She wore a mesh shirt with an open gray jacket over it, dark pants and sandals, and her hitai-ate around her neck.

Everyone stood around awkwardly for a few minutes. Tenten directed occasional, worried glances at Amaya. Kaede seemed visibly frustrated that Amaya stood apart and wouldn't even look them in the eye, but was unwilling to make a scene outside the Hokage's office. Asuma was talking quietly with his students, and both he and Hanabi occasionally glared at Amaya. She guessed that Asuma had probably been told a bunch of lies by his nephew about how horribly they'd treated him during the exam, and Hanabi – like most of her clan – just disliked Uchiha on principle.

Amaya almost felt relieved when Anko opened the door to the Hokage's office. "Come in, all of you," she said. Four jounin, eleven genin and one well-behaved dog filed into the spacious office with an entire wall of wide windows looking out over Konohagakure. Orochimaru, wearing the formal uniform and hat of the Hokage, gestured to the genin, and they stepped forward.

"Your four genin teams were put forward for promotion to chuunin this year," Orochimaru began. "Some of you know or have guessed the results, but it is tradition for the announcement to be made to all teams that were entered."

The Hokage glanced at the papers before him, then at Asuma and his students. "Team Six, led by Sarutobi Asuma, did not participate in the Chuunin Exams, but faced a test every bit as grueling here in Konohagakure. They were evaluated by members of ANBU for the qualities our village expects in a chuunin. Parts of that evaluation could easily have ended in the deaths of one or more members of Team Six." Amaya got the feeling that this speech was aimed at those who had attended the exam.

"It is the opinion of the veteran jounin who evaluated Team Six that all three members are qualified to be chuunin," Orochimaru concluded. "Congratulations."

Tanai, Shimi and Hanabi all contained themselves, bowing and murmuring, "Thank you, Hokage-sama," but the delight on their faces was plain, as well as the relief on Hanabi's. Amaya guessed that the Hyuuga girl had been afraid of her teammate's ire if they hadn't been promoted. Anko handed them their chuunin vests. Hanabi and Shimi put theirs on, while Tanai held his in his arms; like other members of his clan, he would continue to wear his armor in place of the flak jacket.

"Team Three did not advance far enough in the Chuunin Exam to be considered for promotion," Orochimaru continued. Neither Genma nor the Inuzuka boys reacted to that, having known the outcome based on the Hokage's rules for the Chuunin Exam. "While the circumstances of their elimination were extreme, surviving extreme situations is a skill that a chuunin must possess." He paused for a moment. "It is, however, the view of the village's Exam Board that Team Three's elimination from the Second Round should not be penalized. As I have always offered them the opportunity to override the usual penalty for failing to reach the Final Round when there are mitigating circumstances, Shiranui Genma will not receive a black mark for a failing team, and any member of Team Three that wishes to compete next year will be permitted to do so, their sensei willing." The Inuzuka boys looked at each other in surprise, and Genma wore an expression of startled relief.

"Team Four, on the other hand, surprised everyone, including the Sky City odds makers," Orochimaru noted with a cold smile. "The tragedy of the championship match notwithstanding, both Aburame Kaede and Uchiha Amaya demonstrated tactical thinking, adept use of their ninjutsu and clan techniques, skill in combat, and most of all, leadership. Amaya has also earned the distinction of being the first genin from Konohagakure to win the Final Round tournament in five years." He gestured to Anko, who stepped forward with two chuunin vests. "Both of you have earned the rank of chuunin. Congratulations."

After Anko had handed Amaya and Kaede their vests and Amaya had put hers on, Orochimaru looked at her. "Additionally, as the winner of the Final Round, the Champion's Cup and half of the purse is yours," he said to Amaya. "The cup itself is a bit large to hand to you, so it's been delivered to the Uchiha compound. Given the amount of money in the purse, we took the liberty of depositing it in your account at the Konohagakure Central Bank; you should be able to access it at your leisure."

Amaya lowered her gaze. With the exception of Konohamaru everyone offered their congratulations, including the Inuzuka boys, Anko and the other jounin. The praise just made her feel like dirt. _I don't deserve any of this! I killed my best friend! I should be punished, not promoted and cheered on!_ Amaya wanted to scream, but instead she just mumbled her thanks and wished this day was over.

"Team Two also did not advance far enough in the exam to be considered for promotion to chuunin," Orochimaru continued.

"This is bullshit, I'm stronger than any of them," Konohamaru burst out, "I should be chuunin!"

The room was dead silent for a moment. Orochimaru's reptilian eyes locked onto Konohamaru, and Amaya felt the edge of a killing intent from the Hokage that made _her_ want to run away. The Sarutobi heir, taking it full on, turned white as a sheet, his body shaking. Orochimaru's presence was oppressive enough that the light in the room actually seemed to dim.

"Unfortunately, young Sarutobi, strength alone is not sufficient to be promoted to chuunin. If that is the only quality you value, you will die a very powerful genin." Orochimaru's voice was deathly quiet, and everyone in the room held their breath. "A chuunin is expected to have leadership qualities, sound judgment and a basic grasp of small unit tactics. You currently display none of these skills. A chuunin is also expected to report honestly on what occurs during their missions. You failed to do this, as well. You are a blunt instrument, Sarutobi Konohamaru. No one in this village denies you are a gifted warrior; my son would not waste time teaching you if you were less than exceptional. However Naruto has, it seems, failed to impart on you the skills of a chuunin that do not involve brute force. I will recommend to him that if he intends to continue instructing you that he focus on those aspects of being a shinobi."

"I should make one thing perfectly clear to you, Konohamaru. Were you not a promising combatant, and were you not the heir of the Sarutobi clan, I would remove you from active duty entirely based on your performance in this exam. If your next performance in the Chuunin Exam does not show marked improvement, your station will not protect you from being removed from the shinobi corps entirely," Orochimaru concluded. "Do you understand?"

Konohamaru nodded jerkily. The Hokage's stifling chakra presence receded, and the rest of the room's occupants breathed again. "Good. Team Four, please remain a moment. The rest of you are dismissed."

Tenten, Amaya and Kaede waited while the other filed out. It was Anko who spoke next. "Normally we let new chuunin take a break after their promotion, and you two have certainly earned it. However, we thought it appropriate to offer you this mission first." Anko picked up a black envelope from her desk. "Isamu Ken's remains have been prepared for transport. His records indicate he wished to be returned to his family's farm rather than buried in the village's shinobi cemetery. If you'd like to be the ones to take him home, it's yours."

Amaya shivered, the reminder crashing down on her. All active duty shinobi were required to have wills on record and update them every few years. It was somewhat morbid to ask twelve year olds to plan for their own death, but in an occupation as high risk as being a shinobi it was prudent.

Tenten and Kaede looked at Amaya, who was staring at the floor silently, her hands shaking slightly, then at each other. "It might not-" Tenten began.

"We'll do it," Amaya interrupted her, stepping forward and taking the envelope. "Thank you, Mitarashi-sama." Then she glanced at Kaede and Tenten. "I mean… if you want to." They both nodded silently.

"The bearer's cart will be at the west gate in one hour," Anko informed them.

The three of them left the Hokage's office. Outside, they were surprised to see the Inuzuka boys waiting, minus their sensei. "Amaya," Hiroko addressed her, and the Uchiha girl looked at him warily.

"We wanted to offer our condolences about what happened to Ken. Losing a teammate like that is harsh," Hikaru continued, picking up the thread of the sentence as the triplets often did.

"Thank you," Amaya murmured.

"We also wanted to give you our thanks," Haruko added. When she looked at him with surprise, he elaborated. "We were kind of hoping to kill Grun ourselves one day, but Kikimaru and Shumaru will be able to rest in peace knowing that a ninja of the Leaf avenged them." As he spoke, Hiroko's partner Anamaru butted her head against Amaya's leg before looking up at her with intelligent eyes and barking in agreement.

Amaya nodded in understanding, rubbing Anamaru's head. Before today she wouldn't have touched any of their ninken; but the Inuzuka boys seemed to have gotten over their previous animosity towards her and Kaede. "I would have saved him for you, but after all he'd done I knew he had to die quickly. I'm sorry too; I know it's hard losing your ninken."

"We owe you a debt, Uchiha," Hikaru added, and his brothers nodded in agreement.

"That's not something we say lightly," Hiroko said. "See you around." Then they left.

Amaya could almost feel Tenten and Kaede's eyes boring into her back. "Amaya-" Kaede started to say.

"I have some things to do before we leave," Amaya interrupted. "I'll meet you at the gate, okay?" She fled without waiting for an answer. She could feel their eyes on her back as she left. _You can't avoid talking to them forever,_ a traitorous part of Amaya's mind informed her.

"I can try," she whispered to herself.

* * *

When Tenten made her way home late in the evening, tired and emotionally drained, she was surprised and relieved to detect a familiar chakra presence on the roof of her apartment building. She slipped into her apartment long enough to drop off her gear, then leapt up onto the roof.

Neji didn't get up from where he'd been sitting at one of the picnic tables that the building's residents used when the weather was nice. "I would have started dinner, but I wasn't sure when you'd be back," he commented.

Neji's face was raised to the sky. As long as she'd known him Neji had enjoyed looking at the stars. "All my life I've had the byakugan," he'd explained when they were genin and she'd caught him stargazing during his shifts on watch. "I see almost everything – people, buildings, trees, rocks – in a way that people outside of the Hyuuga clan can't really relate to. But the stars and the moon are so far away, so unapproachable, that they're among the few things that I see exactly the same as everyone else."

Tenten sat down next to him. "It's good to see you," she admitted. "It was a rough day." From the corner of her eye she noted the tension that entered his body language when she got close, and realized he wanted to touch her but held himself back. _I need to do something about that,_ she decided.

"I would have thought this would be a good day," Neji said, sounding surprised. "The jounin and ANBU are talking about you. A new jounin sensei's team of rookie genin being promoted on their first try is pretty remarkable."

Tenten sighed. "That part was nice, but after that Anko offered us the mission to deliver Ken's black envelope."

"Ah. His family didn't take the news well?" Neji guessed.

"No, it wasn't pretty. Somehow they already knew what happened. Maybe news about the exam just made it that far already." The scene was still fresh in Tenten's mind. The whole Isamu family had been waiting for them when they arrived with the cart bearing Ken's body. "His brothers took the casket and his mother, Isamu Midori, took the black envelope. She didn't want to hear anything I had to say, and she tore into Amaya. Called her a murderer and then told us to get off of her property."

The look on Amaya's face when that happened still haunted Tenten. The Uchiha girl hadn't gotten angry or denied it, she'd just accepted the hatred and scorn that Ken's mother had heaped on her and left without a word. "Hundreds of shinobi watching that fight agreed it was an accident, but Amaya won't hear any of that. She blames herself for Ken's death. Now she barely talks to me or Kaede and she shuts down whenever we try to discuss Ken. Since she's a chuunin she's not my student anymore, her clan has closed ranks around her, and I don't know how to help her."

It didn't help that Tenten knew about Amaya's Mangekyo sharingan, knew that getting power from killing her friend and the burden of secrecy had to be making everything worse. It also didn't help that Tenten had to feign innocent confusion at the wary hostility the Uchiha were now displaying towards her. So far she hadn't heard of any illegal bounties on her head, but it had to be coming.

"Everyone says I'm a great teacher, but it's not true," Tenten reflected. "I failed Ken horribly. He shouldn't have died, and it's my fault, not Amaya's."

"Tenten, that's not true. You just said it. Ken's death was an accident. You can't protect your students from everything." Neji's arm wrapped around her and she accepted it, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I could have protected him from the Inner Gates, though," she observed quietly. "That's what got him killed. Being around Gai and Lee for so long, watching them defy their own limits and survive again and again, I let myself forget that it's a kinjutsu, and I let them teach my student how to use it. Ken wasn't Lee; he didn't need the Inner Gates. You should have seen him; he won two fights and put Amaya on the ropes with just his tortoise summoning."

Neji considered that. "Maybe you're right, Tenten. Or maybe he would have died anyways without that power to protect himself. Even for someone who isn't a Hyuuga, hindsight is 20/20." Her lips curled into a smile and she snorted despite herself at the terrible joke. "Gai made us all learn to open the Inner Gates; tell me that knowledge hasn't saved your life?" Remembering her terrifying battle with Itachi, Tenten nodded reluctantly. "We're in the business of killing and dying, Tenten. We've all had to bury friends and family, teachers and students, before their time. It should never be easy, but it shouldn't make you doubt yourself, either."

They were both silent for a while. "Do you know what I saw when I looked at Isamu Ken?" Tenten shook her head. "I saw a boy who was born a civilian and never threw a punch until he was eight. Amaya and Kaede both knew how to kill a man a dozen different ways at that age. You're the one who took a clanless genin and turned him into one of the strongest of his generation. Lee and Gai deserve some credit for teaching him about the 'fires of youth'," they both shuddered a bit at the memories of visually scarring man-hugs set on a backdrop of a sunset beach, "but you're the one who gave him the Will of Fire."

Startled, Tenten glanced up at him, and Neji's pale eyes were focused on her, not the stars. Watching the muscles of his neck she saw him fighting the urge to kiss her. Saving him from the dilemma, she slid her hand around the back of his neck and drew him to her. Their lips met, and she felt his surprise melt into relief. When their lips parted, there was a wary but hopeful look on Neji's face.

"Tenten, I…" he trailed off when she placed a finger over his lips.

Sasori's damned mission in the forefront of her mind, Tenten prepared herself to deceive a man who could see everything. She couldn't just lie with her voice; she'd have to lie with her whole body, down to her breathing and heartbeat. "I owe you an apology, Neji," she said. "For too long I've been letting something that hurt me hurt you, and I'm sorry."

He shook his head, clasping her hand in his. "Don't apologize, Tenten. You haven't done anything wrong."

"I have," she insisted. "I let the worst thing that's ever happened to me endanger the best. After what happened, I…" she drew a ragged breath. "I let my fear win. I've been hurting you all this time, and I'm so sorry."

"Tenten, stop," Neji insisted. "What you went through… I can't even imagine what it must have been like. Experiences like that can destroy people, even shinobi. When you were gone there wasn't a day that I didn't worry about you. Not knowing if you were dead or alive; that was torture. When you came back, after what those _animals_ did you, I was afraid you'd be a different person. Truthfully, I've been happy to see you come back to yourself since then. You're still Tenten; an amazing teacher, a true friend, bright, witty and funny." Looking at her earnestly, Neji raised a hand to cup her cheek, and seemed encouraged when she didn't flinch away. "I'd be a terrible person if I hadn't been willing to give you the time you needed to heal. To trust, to be touched again without fear after going through something like that… it takes time. I understand that, and I'll give you all the time you need, because I love you Tenten, and I couldn't do any less."

Tenten hadn't believed she could feel any worse about herself than she already did, but Neji managed to prove her wrong. Fortunately, he had no way of guessing that the tears that welled up in her eyes rose from misery and self-recrimination. She didn't even have to fake a raw voice; her throat tightened up on its own. "Thank you, Neji," she murmured. "Hearing that… it reminds me why I love you, too." She kissed him again, squeezing her stinging eyes shut and losing herself in what she'd had with Neji years ago, when the passion between them had been real and heartfelt, pretending for a moment that nothing had changed, that she still did love him, and in that moment she could almost convince herself that it was true.

Neji's breath and hers were both heavy when their lips parted. "I've let fear keep me away from the best thing in my life for too long," Tenten said earnestly. "But that's over, Neji. I refuse to be afraid anymore."

Looking at her with wonder, he brushed the tears from her cheeks with a thumb. "That sounds good to me," he said with a soft smile before drawing back. "Now, Konohagakure's star jounin sensei deserves a celebration and some fun for several reasons, so why don't we head down to Satoshi's and get some dinner there."

Nodding in agreement, Tenten looked Neji over; he was as impeccably dressed and groomed as usual, but Tenten was aware that her face was tear-streaked and probably puffy, and she hadn't changed or showered since hiking to the Isamu farm and back. She couldn't go to the corner café like this, much less a nice restaurant like Satoshi's. "Let's go downstairs; I need to get cleaned up and changed, and then that sounds like a great idea."

They descended to her apartment together, and Tenten slipped into the bathroom to take a shower. Alone, she glanced in the mirror and felt a surge of self-loathing. _I am the worst person ever,_ she decided, but it didn't matter; the alternatives were worse. If Konohagakure could be free, what was the pain of a few shinobi in comparison? All she could do was try to make Neji happy while the lie lasted, and brace herself for his hatred when he found out the truth.


	24. New Paths

**Chapter 24: New Paths**

* * *

Tenten was stirred from sleep by a warm hand shaking her shoulder gently. "Good morning," Neji whispered in her ear before planting a gentle kiss on her neck. This was followed by the delicious sensation of his long, silky hair whispering over her skin as he slipped out of her bed. Tenten rolled over to admire his chiseled body while he straightened out his hair.

Sitting up in bed she captured her own loose brown hair, wrapping it up quickly at the nape of her neck and sticking a senbon through it to keep it in place for now. When she was done Tenten became aware that Neji was admiring the half of her that had been revealed when she sat up and the sheets pooled around her waist. She retaliated by slipping out of bed and snatching up the long white tunic with billowing sleeves he'd been wearing the previous night before she removed it from him, and slipped it on, closing the top few clasps. On her the shirt fell almost to her knees and her arms were lost in the sleeves until she rolled them up.

Giving Neji an arch look at his groan of disappointment, she shook her head at him before slipping out of the bedroom, padding across her apartment on bare feet to see what was around to make breakfast with and pausing only to take a deep breath, inhaling Neji's scent which clung to the shirt.

The smell made her feel warm and almost giddy – and she paused mid step, analyzing that feeling. She hadn't needed to do that to fool Neji; she'd done it because she'd wanted to. It was dangerous, Tenten decided. For a moment she'd allowed the line between the deception and reality to blur, and she couldn't do that. She'd done her best to kill her emotions, because she couldn't afford to feel anything genuine for Neji as she seduced and extracted information from him, and that was proving harder than she'd ever anticipated.

Among the Akatsuki, with her ties to Konohagakure severed, burying her feelings for those she'd left behind had been difficult but bearable. She'd found love with Deidara, and a future she believed in far more than anything she'd found in the village of her birth. But now that she was back in Konohagakure, the lines were blurring again.

Reeling Neji in had been so easy that she felt guilty about it. She'd balanced the need to have him in her grasp before he found out about his uncle's illness with making her 'recovery' and return to being comfortable with intimacy believable. She'd succeeded on both fronts; he remained uninformed of Hiashi's decline, and he was spending more nights in her bed than his own now.

The problem, Tenten was realizing with increasing discomfort, wasn't convincing Neji that what they had was real. It was reminding herself that it wasn't. In her mind her ultimate objective was clear: she wanted to see Konohagakure free of Orochimaru, and she wanted to be with Deidara, if he ever forgave her for taking this mission.

But when she'd made that decision she'd been with Deidara and away from Neji, and it had been so easy to forget how well she fit together with her teammate and lover. Now that Tenten was back in Konohagakure, spending most nights in Neji's arms, she was going crazy trying to hold onto a dispassionate shinobi frame of mind. She'd loved Neji once, and she had a sneaking suspicion that she was starting to love him again, which she couldn't allow to happen. She couldn't!

Once he'd located his pants – they'd wound up on the ceiling fan somehow – Neji joined Tenten in the kitchen. He started heating a skillet to toast some bread and bacon, while Tenten started mixing vegetables with beaten eggs to make an omelet. "What are you up to today?" Tenten inquired.

"Some big clan conclave," Neji replied. "It's on short notice, but virtually the whole clan is going to be there. Hiashi-sama and the elders have been awfully close-lipped about the subject. The favorite theory going around the clan right now is that they're going to announce an arranged marriage for Hinata. Regardless, with this many of the clan in one place there will be no shortage of business to discuss."

Tenten nodded at the omelet started cooking. "I see. So I shouldn't expect to see you tonight?"

Neji nodded, his words accompanied by sizzling bacon. "These meetings always go late into the night; even once the business is done there will be celebrations and toasts. I'll stay at the Hyuuga compound tonight. How about you?"

Tenten shrugged. Once the omelet was done she cut it in two and slid it onto plates, to which Neji added thick slices of toasted bread and crisp bacon. "Lee's getting antsy, so I'll probably check with Anko and see if she has any work for us. I'll send you a note if we have to leave the village." They sat down to breakfast without delay.

Neji was skimming through the newspaper, and Tenten glanced at the headlines, suppressing a smile. Two things had slowly been coming to light in the last month. Sunagakure had reported that the Kazekage's sister and her genin team had vanished on the way home from the Chuunin Exam, triggering a three-nation search that was slowly tapering off as no trace of them was found. Also, Kumogakure was being suspiciously taciturn about the seeming disappearance of one of its two jinchuuriki in the days following the exam. They weren't saying anything officially, but rumors were spreading that the jinchuuriki of the Nibi was either dead or gone rogue.

It had been a month and a half since Tenten returned from the Chuunin Exams and ceased being a jounin sensei, at least for the time being. Officially Teams Four and Six had been dissolved; their members all promoted or deceased. In practice, as with most sensei-student relationships Tenten still saw at least one of her students regularly. Amaya remained in seclusion on the Uchiha estate, and neither Tenten nor Kaede had been allowed into the compound to see her. Her family had even turned down some missions offered to Amaya on her behalf.

Tenten wasn't drawing a salary as a sensei anymore, but she'd been paid the standard bonuses for two students promoted to chuunin, so she wasn't hurting for cash. She'd spent time training that she hadn't had leading up to the exam, studying fuuinjutsu and working on her earth ninjutsu in secret. When she wasn't training, she took occasional A-ranked missions to keep her skills sharp, usually in tandem with Rock Lee. They were both jounin without specific assignments at the moment, and while Tenten was a long way from being a genin pigeon-holed as a support type, she still did her best work paired with a ninja like Lee or Neji who specialized in close combat, leaving her free to set traps and attack from range. Since Lee also tended to need a partner who could spot traps and subtle hints he missed, break him out of genjutsus, and smack him upside the head when he was making a fool of himself and scaring the client, they worked well together.

Tenten had also taken some B-ranked missions with Kaede, determined to make sure the Aburame girl stayed safe as she got into more dangerous work as a chuunin. So far Kaede hadn't needed rescuing, and Tenten was proud of how well her student was doing. They'd tried inviting Amaya to go on missions with them, but their notes either went unanswered of were politely declined by one of Amaya's relatives.

After breakfast Neji reclaimed his shirt in a fiercely playful wrestling match that ended in Tenten being pinned against the wall and kissed thoroughly enough that she was tempted to drag him back into the bedroom, but they both had work to do, so Neji departed to go meet with his clan, and Tenten got cleaned up before heading to the Hokage's tower to see what the day had in store.

* * *

Checking in at the mission desk in the Hokage's tower revealed that it was a slow day and there wasn't a lot to do requiring a jounin's input. After politely declining Rock Lee's offer to run around the village wall a few dozen times, Tenten headed for Training Ground Five. The trip took more than an hour even at jounin speed, as the entrance to the training ground was hidden deep in the forest, well outside the walls of the village.

Konohagakure had fifty-one training grounds, some as much as a week's travel away from the village, but Five was one of the original sites, dating back to Konohagakure's founding. It was also one of the least used. The Shodai Hokage Senju Hashirama had commissioned the first handful of training grounds to correspond to the five elements of chakra; Training Ground Five was the 'earth' area. It was actually a vast underground cavern that had been completely sealed off from the surface until the Shodai Hokage had opened a path down into the cave with his own earth ninjutsu. After Hashirama's death it had fallen out of frequent use, simply because Konohagakure had few shinobi who made any use of earth ninjutsu, and even for those who did, they saw little need to go out of their way when closer training grounds could be used just as easily.

For Tenten Training Ground Five was perfect. Its isolation made it rarely used, its rocky expanse was ideal for practicing her earth ninjutsu, and the fact that it only had one entrance made it easy for Tenten to ensure her privacy while using abilities she wasn't supposed to have, particularly the B- and A-ranked techniques she was working on or had been taught by Deidara, skills that would raise questions in Konohagakure as to where she had learned them; as far as Tenten was aware her knowledge of earth ninjutsu now outstripped almost every practitioner in Konohagakure save the Hokage.

Tenten had never seen another shinobi in Training Ground Five, but when she reached the bottom of the long, winding stone staircase carved out by the chakra of the Shodai Hokage, she could tell that she wasn't alone. Prior to its excavation by the Shodai Hokage the cave had been lightless, but in a work of earth ninjutsu that was more art than technique, Hashirama had woven veins of clear quartz linking the ceiling of the cavern to the surface, so that in daylight the cave was filled with a rainbow of colored light from the sun refracting down through the crystal.

Sending a pulse of chakra through the smooth, water-worn stone of the cave floor, Tenten felt it ping off of no less than six people, all shinobi. Tenten allowed herself a quiet groan. There was no way she could get any training done with that many people in the cave. Wondering with irritation if someone had decided to bring their genin team down to the cave for some variety, Tenten was about to leave and go home to study fuuinjutsu when one of the cavern's other inhabitants stepped out from behind a cluster of stalagmites. Tenten relaxed on seeing the silver hair and purple uniform of Yakushi Kabuto.

"I didn't think I'd see you here today, Kabuto-san," Tenten said cordially. Publicly, Kabuto was the doctor who's patched her up after her rescue and a casual friend afterwards. Privately, they occasionally sparred together, since Kabuto was the only person in Konohagakure that she could practice her hidden techniques against. She'd learned quickly that Kabuto's cover was just as much of a lie as hers. On paper he was still a genin and spent more time as a doctor than a ninja, but in reality he was fast, skilled in combat and frighteningly intelligent. She knew he could take on most jounin in the village without much trouble, and she had a sneaking suspicion he was still holding back.

"A coincidence, I assure you," he said lightly. "I stopped by for a workout; I didn't know you'd be here." While Kabuto spoke however, his voice was overlaid with a simple auditory genjutsu that Tenten sensed and allowed him to place in her mind. "There are five hostiles deeper in the cave, sent to kill you. Sasori had me lay down some false leads after you told him about your Uchiha problem, I thought you'd prefer to deal with would-be assassins down here rather than closer to home."

"Well as long as you're here, why don't we face off for a little while," Tenten offered, nodding thoughtfully at the hidden message. While they were talking, Tenten sent out another pulse of earth chakra, and noted that the other five people in the cave were moving to encircle them. Without letting any alarm show in her posture, Tenten contemplated this turn of events.

Once they were far from the entrance to the cavern the shadows moved and a figure emerged from the darkness. He was a large man, more than two meters tall and broad at the shoulders with a solid frame. Tenten estimated he probably carried three times her weight. He had wild, spiky red hair that fell past his shoulder blades. His broad face was tattooed with a purple triangle tattooed on each cheek, and dark, malicious eyes sunk into his fleshy visage. He was garbed in scale mail armor that left only his hands, feet and head uncovered. The kanji for 'feast' were engraved on his chest plate. One meaty hand held the black haft of a nagitana that rested over his shoulder.

Tenten was peripherally aware of four more men of more normal stature, all most likely missing-nin, slinking out of the shadows around them. She could tell by their formation and respective chakra levels that the familiar looking tall man in armor was the leader.

"Akimichi Renji," Kabuto said with disgust plain in his voice. "You're insane to come this close to the village."

The name clicked for Tenten. He looked familiar because he had a page in Konohagakure's Bingo Book, though his picture was almost a decade out of date. Renji was the black sheep of the Akimichi Clan; a master of his clan's fearsome size and strength enhancing ninjutsu but without any of his relatives' restraint. Renji had gone missing-nin while Tenten was still in the academy, fleeing Konohagakure one step ahead of the ANBU sent to arrest him for assaults on civilian women and killing targets for private bounties not approved by the Hokage. The wife and son he left behind would have paid the price for his betrayal had Akimichi Chouza not extended his protection to them and convinced the Hokage to spare them. _I guess this answers the question of whether the Uchiha have put a price on my head yet,_ Tenten concluded.

"Kabuto!" Renji declared in mock-delight. "Still scraping along as a genin I see. Konohagakure must be really hard up for medics if they haven't kicked you out of the shinobi corps yet."

"I just do my best," Kabuto replied with good nature, unruffled by the insult. Tenten knew Kabuto took pride in his own, true abilities, but he never let any irritation or anger show when people insulted the mediocre career he maintained as a cover.

Renji snorted, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. "'ll tell you what, Kabuto: for old time's sake if you walk away and let me do my job I'll let you live."

"What is your job Renji, if you don't mind my asking?" Kabuto inquired innocently, seemingly unconcerned with the pair of rough looking missing-nin closing in on him.

"Panda girl here," Renji declared, pointing the blade of his nagitana at Tenten "has a head worth a million ryo if it's not attached to her body," he said to Kabuto.

Tenten felt a muscle under her left eye twitch at 'panda girl'. _I do not look like a panda! Oh, he's going to suffer before he dies just for that,_ she vowed.

Kabuto lowered his face, glare from the refracted sunlight hiding his eyes, and his shoulders started shaking. Renji frowned when he realized Kabuto wasn't afraid, he was quivering with mirth. The silver haired medic then threw his head back, laughing hysterically. "Oh kami, you're stupid Renji," he gasped. "A million ryo? That's it? For her?" Kabuto looked at Tenten in amusement. "You need to find a better class of enemy, Tenten. That amount's just insulting."

Privately Tenten agreed. It was an offensively low bounty for a member of the Akatsuki, though she conceded that it just about fit who she was pretending to be. "Well, I think he's underestimating us both pretty badly. Why don't you let me handle this?" Nodding, Kabuto took a few steps away from her to give Tenten room to work.

"Too bad, Kabuto," Renji said with false regret. "I guess you'll both have to die. Kill them!" The missing-nin moved forward, only to halt with visible alarm as Tenten let go of the internal restraints that had become second nature and allowed her would-be assassins to feel the full force of her killing intent and chakra levels. One of the benefits to joining the Akatsuki was training in techniques to quickly expand the body's chakra capacity, a skill unknown in the Hidden Villages; the old Tenten would have killed herself from chakra exhaustion attempting some of the ninjutsu she now knew.

"Let's be clear, lard ass," Tenten growled at Renji, forming a series of hand signs. "I'm not trapped in here with you. You're trapped in here with me! Doton: Chitose no Kabe!" _[Thousand Year Wall]_ When Tenten slammed her foot into the rock floor of the cave and released her chakra, the entire cavern shook. The grating sound of stone on stone filled the cavern as the first dozen steps of the stone staircase leading to the surface slid up to touch the ceiling, sealing the cave off from the surface behind dozens of metric tons of rock engraved on the front with the hideous, grinning face of an _oni_.

Nearly identical looks of shock appeared on the faces of Renji and his minions, while Kabuto started laughing again. "You decided to attack a Doton master underground. Let's see how that works out for you, Renji."

Looking alarmed for the first time, Renji yelled, "Kill her, now!" at the missing-nin, and the four of them charged Tenten from all sides with weapons drawn, which just irritated Tenten more.

"Seriously? That's the best you rejects can do?" Tenten growled as she made a few more hand signs. She'd come to practice some earth ninjutsu, and now that this Akimichi reject had gotten her good and pissed, she was going to practice some earth ninjutsu. _I'll show you 'panda girl'!_ "My genin had a better grasp of tactics," informed her assailants before crouching and slapping her palms onto the ground. "Doton: Hayashi o Noboru!" _[Climbing Forest]_

The missing-nin seemed to have faced Rock ninja before, because when they saw a dozen spikes of rock shoot out of the ground around Tenten they leapt into the air to avoid them. This sealed their fate, since Tenten wasn't using the C-ranked technique to make defensive spikes favored by Iwagakure chuunin, but an A-ranked earth ninjutsu Deidara had taught her. Each of the dozen spikes kept growing and split into multiple branches, then split again, each one turning into a veritable thorn bush of rock, hundreds of needle sharp tips covering the area around Tenten. The screams of the missing-nin ended quickly when their falling bodies were impaled on the spiny forest of rock. Red blood trickled down the 'branches' and 'trunks' of the stone trees. Rising to her feet and slipping between the bloody trees Tenten advanced on Akimichi Renji, who had wisely retreated out of range.

There was fear in Renji's eyes now, but he wasn't panicking yet; he was too seasoned a ninja for that. "I'll crush you, panda girl!" he declared, having retreated to the section of the cave with the highest ceiling. "Baika no Jutsu!" Tenten calmly watched the already large man swell to immensity. A number of possible solutions occurred to her, but a snarl rose in her throat at being called 'panda girl' again, and she decided on one of Deidara's favorite jutsus. She thought it was too flashy and impractical for most situations, but against an Akimichi's size it was perfect. "Doton: Goremu!" _[Golem]_

Renji charged Tenten and swung his lamp post-sized nagitana at her, only to see its momentum arrested by a stone arm as large as his own shooting out of the cavern floor to block it. He stumbled back in shock as a rough-hewn collection of boulders stuck together in a man-shaped form rose out of the ground, towering as high as the massive Akimichi when it reached its full height. Renji attacked Tenten's golem, thrusting with his nagitana, but the blade only sparked off of its hide. The golem mirrored Tenten's movements as she pantomimed knocking the nagitana aside and throwing a punch, resulting in a multi-ton stone fist slamming into Renji's face. The giant ninja stumbled back, dazed. The golem was every bit as big as he was, and considerably harder and denser.

"I," Tenten growled, followed by a stone knee that shattered his breastplate, "do NOT," the golem took Renji's nagitana and broke it in half, "look like," the golem raised its arms high and brought its fists down on Renji's shoulders, driving him to his knees, "a PANDA!" The golem's fingers wrapped around Renji's neck and squeezed. His dinner plate sized eyes bulged in his head as his hands clawed at the stone arms locked around his throat. Tenten fed a final burst of chakra into the golem. Its rock fingers convulsed, and Renji's head popped off of his neck with a proportionally impressive fountain of blood.

When the renegade Akimichi's corpse shrank back down to its normal size, Tenten released the jutsu, panting as the golem collapsed into a pile of boulders. Her chakra capacity had expanded significantly in the last year, but two A-ranked techniques followed by Goremu, which wasn't officially classified but would probably qualify as S-rank, was still draining. _I do not look like a panda,_ she reassured herself, patting her buns absently.

Glancing back at her audience, Tenten noted that Kabuto was admiring the grisly sculpture formed by the four corpses impaled on her stone trees. Noting that she was done, he wandered over to Renji's decapitated body. "Feel better?"

"A little," Tenten admitted after catching her breath. Being able to go all out was cathartic once in a while, even if Renji had been too outclassed to give her a real challenge.

"Do you mind if I take this?" Kabuto asked, pointing to Renji's corpse. "His head should be enough for you to collect the bounty, and I'd love a chance to study an Akimichi's physiology." Ninja clans as a matter of course tended to destroy the bodies of the fallen to prevent others from learning the secrets that could be gleaned from the corpses. Renji's body would be a treasure trove of information for a medic and spy like Kabuto.

"Take the whole thing, but make sure it disappears when you're done. I'm not going to collect the bounty." At Kabuto's surprised look, she elaborated. "If I collect from the Akimichi the Uchiha will figure out that they're not offering enough and raise their bounty. I'd prefer to keep the inept assassins over someone good enough to blow my cover. Besides, the kunoichi I'm pretending to be couldn't have taken down Renji without a scratch. I don't want to raise suspicions about my true competence any more than I have to."

"Fair enough," Kabuto said as he rolled the decapitated corpse onto a storage scroll and sealed it away. Tenten slowly exerted her earth chakra to unblock the entrance of the training ground and sink the stone trees deep into the rock floor, taking the corpses of the missing-nin with them.

"Did you still want to spar?" Kabuto inquired.

Tenten shook her head. "Not after that. I'm going to go recharge. I'll see you later?"

"Sure."

Exiting the training ground, they went their separate ways.

* * *

Uchiha Amaya made her way to the Hokage's tower, curiosity and nervousness warring in her mind. The summons she'd received to report to the Mission Hall hadn't specified what the subject was, so she didn't know if it was good or bad.

On the other hand, her training in controlling and suppressing the Mangekyo sharingan was over; the previous week her grandparents and the clan head had declared her control satisfactory and ended the restrictions on her unsupervised movements in the village. Since then she'd had a few sessions with them to try and figure out what exactly her Mangekyo did now that she could control it, but so far nothing happened. She could shift from the regular sharingan to the evolved version at will, but other than making everything appear slightly darker, it didn't seem to do anything yet. It was almost a relief, as Amaya wasn't sure she wanted a new power gained from Ken's death, even one as formidable as the clan's secret scrolls indicated that the Mangekyo sharingan could grant.

Entering the tower and heading up to the mission hall, Amaya discovered that the large room with a series of desks where the chuunin and jounin on duty handed out missions was fairly busy; there were several genin teams, as well as groups of higher ranked ninja looking for jobs.

Walking over to one of the mission desks, Amaya found Umino Iruka smiling at her from behind it, and wondered if the academy was on holiday. "Good morning, sensei," she said politely to the older man, retaining the honorific even though they were now technically the same rank.

"Amaya, congratulations on the promotion! How are you holding up?" Iruka replied. "I haven't seen you since you got back from the exam."

She shrugged. "I'm getting by," she said neutrally. Not wanting to be congratulated or reminded of Ken's death, she changed the subject. "I was ordered to report here; what's up?"

Iruka snapped his fingers. "Ah yes, that." He rummaged through the scrolls on his desk. "A job offer came through earlier this week. The client requested you two by name."

_Two?_ Amaya thought, until she sensed someone beside and behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Kaede, who had silently joined her in front of Iruka's desk.

After giving Amaya a short nod, Kaede glanced back to Iruka. "What is the job?"

Iruka shrugged. "No idea; it was placed under the Hokage's seal. I was just told to give you that, and tell you to talk to Namikaze-sama for your briefing. In fact, here he is now."

The general din of the Mission Hall quieted as Namikaze Naruto entered the room. Amaya could hear Kaede's hive buzzing in quiet agitation, and resisted the shudder that wanted to travel down her spine as the powerful and malevolent chakra of the Hokage's adopted son washed over them. A bubble of open space formed itself around Naruto as he crossed the room, even trained ninja shrinking back reflexively from the scariest thing in the room and possibly the village.

At eighteen, Naruto resembled his legendary father quite a bit. He'd taken to growing long bangs framing his face as Minato had, and over his uniform of black pants and shirt and a gray flak jacket he wore a black haori with short sleeves and white flames on the bottom edge. When he stopped in front of Iruka's desk Amaya could feel the power of his bijuu-enhanced chakra; it was almost unpleasant, like standing too close to a fire, but she forced herself not to step back. Kaede was even more still than usual, probably trying to calm her agitated hive of kikai bugs.

"Good; you're already here," Naruto said, his glowing red eyes with black slit pupils in the center raking over Amaya and Kaede. "Come with me," he instructed them, picking up the mission scroll and heading for one of the private offices flanking the hall used for private mission briefings. Exchanging a wary glance, Amaya and Kaede followed the jinchuuriki. When they entered, he closed the door behind them, sitting down on the other side of the room's desk from the pair of kunoichi.

Naruto didn't speak right away, studying them both silently for a moment. Amaya reflected on what she knew of the man to distract herself from how overbearing his presence was. Most ninja had to make an effort to produce killing intent; it got easier and stronger with experience, but it was still a conscious effort. Namikaze Naruto, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi – which was a sentient ball of hate and inexhaustible chakra – produced a level of killing intent and spiritual pressure unconsciously that was enough to unnerve veteran shinobi and drive civilians to panic if they were too close to him.

Amaya knew he'd been assigned to a genin team with the Sasuke under Hatake Kakashi, and that he had reportedly a greater mastery of his bijuu than any other jinchuuriki with the exception of Killer Bee of Kumogakure. He was the son of the legendary Namikaze Minato and raised by the Yondaime Hokage. He was Orochimaru's right hand and a terror on the battlefield. He rarely took jobs outside the village, since he served the role of the village's defender much like the Hachibi in Kumogakure, but when he did take the field, everyone who faced him ran or died.

"What is our mission, Namikage-sama?" Amaya asked respectfully when it became clear he wasn't in a hurry to break the silence.

"Not a mission, a job offer," Naruto corrected with a shake of his head. "The performance you two gave at the Chuunin Exam has earned you some highly placed fans, it seems." Pressing one thumb to the seal on the scroll, Naruto applied his chakra until it dissolved, then handed the scroll to Amaya, who unrolled it as Kaede leaned over to look.

"The Lightning Daimyo?" Amaya said in disbelief as she saw the inked seal at the top of the scroll.

"He wants to hire both of you to join his court guard," Naruto confirmed with a nod.

"The Lightning Daimyo has an entire village full of ninja in his own country at his disposal," Kaede observed. "Why would he want us?"

"It's not unusual for daimyo to select a few members of their guard from foreign villages; it equips them to deal with a broader range of threats. You both have combat styles and knowledge that don't exist in Kumogakure. Beyond that, the offer is mostly politics," Naruto told them bluntly.

"You two had the best showings of any of the genin in the Final Round; you're a feather in the cap of whoever hires you. You both also faced Iwagakure's best and embarrassed them; neither of you is very popular in the Land of Earth right now, so by hiring the pair of you the Lightning Daimyo can send a hearty 'fuck you' to the Tsuchikage and the Earth Daimyo, both of whom he hates. He's also probably tweaking the Raikage's nose with this. Kumogakure had a terrible showing for an exam host, again mostly attributable to you two and your late teammate. By hiring Leaf ninja for posts that might have gone to Cloud ninja if they'd done better he's sending a message."

"So if we take the job we'll be making enemies in Iwagakure and Kumogakure," Kaede concluded.

"Probably, but that's going to happen anyways," Naruto answered with a feral grin. "You two have set yourselves on the path of the true elite of shinobi. The rewards and prestige are unparalleled, but you wind up stepping on other people's egos to make the climb, and the ones you don't kill don't forget." He leaned back in his seat. "Next to the Land of Fire, the Land of Lightning is the strongest of the five great nations. Working directly for their daimyo – if you perform well – is more of a career booster than the Chuunin Exams. He's offering you both a three-year term. It's standard for elite bodyguards. By the end of that time you'll both have made some enemies, but you'll also have friends in high places in a very powerful nation. Brilliant shinobi careers are made on less."

"So you're saying we should take the job," Amaya concluded.

"The choice is yours entirely," Naruto said with a shake of his head. "It's a big step; if you go you won't see home again for three years. If you want to remain here in Konohagakure there's plenty of work for a pair of talented chuunin like you."

"When do we have to make a decision?" Kaede asked.

"The Lightning Daimyo has asked for an answer in three months' time, so by all means sleep on it and talk it over with your friends and family. The Hokage and your clan heads have given their permission already, if you want to do it." With that, Naruto rose to his feet. "When you make your decision, let someone at the mission desk know and your reply will be communicated through the proper channels."

Naruto left, closing the door behind him, and both girls were able to breathe easier once he was gone. It was Kaede who broke the silence. "Can we talk about this, or are you just going to shut down again?" Kaede asked calmly.

"What are you talking about?" Amaya demanded defensively.

"Ever since Ken died you've avoided everyone you're not related to, and when Tenten-sensei or I try to talk to you, you go mute. How you deal with your grief is your business, but if we're going to work together, you have to stop shutting me out."

"You have no idea what this has been like, Kaede," Amaya informed her coldly. "You don't know anything."

"Of course I don't!" Kaede shot back angrily. "How could I, you won't talk to me about it! Amaya, I cared about Ken too; he was the closest thing to a brother I'll ever have. Tenten-sensei's hurting as well, but we have people to talk to, to help us sort things out. You're keeping everything bottled up as far as I can tell. It's not healthy." The Aburame girl leaned back, her silvery eyes glancing over her dark shades to look at Amaya thoughtfully. "I think we should take the job."

"Why?"

"Plenty of reasons; it's a good career move and I think we'll learn a lot. But beyond that, I think you need to get away from Konohagakure for a while. You need a break from your family, and everything that reminds you of Ken, because right now you're in a bad place."

"How would you know that?" Amaya growled.

"Because I know you, Amaya," Kaede stated bluntly. "You're punishing yourself. You're not dealing with what happened, so you latch onto every bad thing that comes your way like it's a lifeline. Ken's mother called you a murderer and you didn't say a word, because you think she's right."

"You're wrong," Amaya insisted, but it didn't sound convincing even to her.

"Then roll up your sleeves," Kaede challenged her, and Amaya looked away. She'd taken to wearing long sleeves and pants that reached her ankles to hide the bruises from Sasuke's merciless training regimen. "You've been beating yourself up, literally. I can see it when you move. I watched you squirm when the Hokage promoted us and everyone congratulated you. You don't think you deserve it, because of one accident that wasn't your fault."

"It was my fault."

"How? How was that your fault? Explain this to me Amaya. You thought he'd block the kick; everyone did. But he didn't because he lost control of the Inner Gates, and it's crueler than fate should allow that the blow that killed him came from you, but that doesn't make it your fault! You're not a murderer, Amaya. Do you think murderers tear themselves up like you are? Tell me you think Konohamaru would care for a second if he killed Udon accidentally."

"It was my fault because Ken was supposed to win!" Amaya burst out.

Kaede blinked. "What do you mean?"

"As soon as the Raikage told us about the champion's prize I decided I'd let Ken win even if I got the upper hand," Amaya admitted, hating that for all her recent training on controlling her eyes she couldn't stop the tears as she confessed. "His family needs that money and I don't. I didn't want Ken to hate me for letting him win so I decided to make it look good before I threw the match. Kami I wish I had just forfeited; maybe I would have lost his respect, but he would be alive. Now I can't even give the money to his family. They hate me; they wouldn't take it." Amaya buried her face in her hands.

A moment later she was startled by the normally reserved Kaede hugging her. "Amaya, don't you get it?" Kaede said quietly, "that makes you the exact opposite of a bad person. I don't know many shinobi who would even think of doing something like that, for a teammate or not."

Amaya sniffled, giving Kaede a bewildered look. "You really don't hate me?"

"Kami, no," the Aburame girl responded immediately. "Neither does Tenten-sensei or anyone else. Except Konohamaru and that's because you're a better ninja than he is." Amaya couldn't help an amused snort. Kaede slipped her sunglasses off, something else she rarely did, her uncanny Aburame eyes with silvery irises staring at Amaya. "If Ken were standing here do you think he'd hate you? You think he'd be happy that you're miserable because of his mistake?"

When Amaya hesitated Kaede growled under her breath. "The correct answer is 'no', Amaya. I don't know if you ever picked up on this, but Ken loved you."

Amaya flinched as though struck. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"It's supposed to give you perspective. Ken's family may never understand what happened, because rumors run faster than the truth and they don't understand how shinobi fight. But you can't keep going on like this, taking all the weight for what happened on your shoulders for what happened and letting it crush you. Let me tell you who else deserves a bit of blame for what happened to Ken, too: Tenten-sensei, Lee-sensei, and Gai-sensei."

Amaya blinked. "What? Why?"

"Because they're the experienced ninja who decided to teach a thirteen year old genin a dangerous, powerful kinjutsu and it got him into a situation that ended in his death when he lost control of it. Without the Inner Gates, Senne probably would have beaten him and you'd never have faced him at all." Kaede leaned back with a sigh. "I'm not saying don't grieve, but don't let it crush you. Come to the Land of Lightning with me, okay? We've spent the last two years training with Konohagakure's best; we can spend the next three working with Kumogakure's strongest, and when we come back we can make jounin ahead of Konohamaru too, and won't that just piss him the hell off?"

Amaya sighed. Kaede's heart was in the right place, but she didn't understand, and she couldn't. No one could know the secret of the Mangekyo sharingan, the forbidden power she didn't deserve. Karma would pay her back someday for the unearned gift, but she couldn't stand Kaede sitting there looking at her with those understanding, forgiving, alien eyes, so she nodded reluctantly. "All right; let's go to the Land of Lightning." At least it would get her away from her family for a few years, and it sounded like Fugaku had already approved the job based on what Naruto had said.

"Great. Why don't we go find Tenten-sensei and tell her the good news?" Kaede suggested. Amaya made a side trip to wash her face first, and then they set out into the village.

* * *

Past midnight, Tenten woke from sleep with the immediate knowledge that she was not alone. Her hand was wrapped around the kunai under her pillow and had it out in a flash.

"It's just me, Tenten," Neji said, sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to her, looking out the window.

"Damn it, Neji, you know better than to sneak up on me," Tenten complained, slipping the weapon back under her pillow. "One of these days you're going to get stabbed."

He chuckled. "Sorry. I'm just a bit unsettled tonight."

Sitting up in bed, Tenten frowned. "What's going on?" He turned to face her, and even though she had suspected what she'd see, she didn't have to feign a shocked gasp. "Neji…"

When they had met as genin, Neji wore his hitai-ate whenever he was around other people. Tenten had found out about the Caged Bird seal carved into his forehead soon enough, but she hadn't actually seen it until much later. He had been ashamed of it then, and he hadn't taken off his hitai-ate in her presence until the first time they had sex. She didn't care about it, and subsequently he'd relaxed enough to leave it bare more often when they were together privately.

Now Tenten was seeing Neji without the seal for the first time, his brow smooth and unmarred. "You seal is gone? How? What's happened, Neji?" she demanded, as though she didn't know.

He sighed. "The clan conclave wasn't about Hinata. My uncle, Hiashi… he's dying. His doctors give him another four months if he's lucky."

Moving closer, Tenten slipped her arms around him. "Oh, Neji… I'm sorry." He relaxed slightly in her arms.

"My seal is gone because I'm not a member of the Branch family anymore. My uncle… has adopted me and named me his heir. I guess I can call him father now, too."

"That's… wow. That's good, right?" Tenten queried, uncertain what his reaction was going to be.

"I'm still coming to terms with it, to be honest," Neji admitted. "I never thought it would be an issue. Hiashi isn't that old, it was always assumed that either Hinata would mature and shape up, or Hanabi would be named heir in her place. But… we talked privately, Hiashi and I, before meeting the elders. He said that naming me heir is the only way he can protect the clan from falling completely under the sway of the elders again, and he's right. I know he's using me to try and protect his daughters, but for what he's offering, I don't care." Neji gave her a fierce smile. "I've bowed my head to those old men all my life because of the Caged Bird seal. They're going to be surprised when they realize that they can't control me like they have Hinata."

Tenten nodded. "They won't know what hit them." She sat back a bit, running her fingers over his shoulders, applying pressure to knead away the tension when she felt how tight his muscles were. "Whatever you need from me Neji, I'm here for you," she murmured as he slowly relaxed under the pressure of her fingertips. "Even if that means we can't be seen together anymore," she added, putting a hitch in her voice. In truth she needed to avoid that outcome even if it irritated his clan, but she had to keep up the act.

"No," he said with a firmness and immediacy that warmed Tenten's heart even as she felt slightly sick at how easily she was using him. "I don't know what the future holds, but I'll be clan head when Hiashi passes away, and that means the clan elders won't be able to dictate who I marry; they'll have to bargain, and I'll put them off." He was silent for a moment, letting Tenten's hands work their magic. "I'm sorry Tenten. That's still not fair to you," he said, glancing over his shoulder. "I wish I could…"

Tenten silenced him with a light kiss. "No apologies," she whispered. "You've been honest from day one; you never tried to mislead me about what we are and can be. I walked into this with eyes wide open, Neji. I love you, and even if the circumstances of our birth mean we'll never be more than lovers, I still want to be with you for as long as I can."

He turned around, enfolding her in his arms. "I don't deserve you Tenten," he murmured. "But I'm glad to have you anyway."

Pushing away the guilt did get easier with practice. Easing away from him, she looked around. "I may have to do some shopping, redecorate, get a new bed maybe," Tenten mused.

Neji looked puzzled. "Why?"

"Well, these humble surroundings may be acceptable for a member of the branch family, but if I'm going to be hosting the Lord High Hyuuga himself, I should probably spruce the place up a bit. Get some sheets with a higher thread count, maybe a softer mattress," she replied.

"Tenten…"

Tenten glanced out towards the living room. "I mean, I rescued that couch from the curb! I'm sure Ino can give me some tips for making this place a bit more classy and suitable for persons of lordly caliber. Definitely need to update the dining room. Those chairs are pretty old."

Neji looked horrified. "Don't you dare do any of that, Tenten," he growled. "I love the things you have now. This is the one place I can come where the furniture is comfortable. Pretty things are usually about as fun to sit on as a training post."

"Maybe some tasteful wall hangings," Tenten decided. For the most part, bare walls in her bedroom and living room were taken up with weapon racks.

Neji looked so crestfallen that she couldn't fight the grin that spread across her face anymore. "You're bad," he said with a scowl when he caught her smirk.

"Yup," she agreed, "and you believed every painful word of it."

"Did not."

"Did too."

Neji's movement took her off guard, bearing her down onto the bed, his hands encircling her wrists and his face close to hers. "It's not wise to mock the Lord High Hyuuga," he informed her.

"Oh?" Tenten inquired innocently while squirming against him in a manner that was anything but.

"There are consequences," he continued, his voice becoming huskier.

"Do tell," she breathed. Tenten squeaked when he nipped her earlobe and then felt her cheeks heating up as he started whispering in her ear. "Oh," she said. Then his lips met hers, and further discussion was forestalled.

* * *

_Author's Note: Was reading a fanfic where Naruto met Tenten and called her 'panda girl'. Unfortunately, an asskicking did not ensue._

_Don't call Tenten 'panda girl'. That is all._


	25. Windows

**Chapter 25: Windows**

* * *

_Redtail Island, Land of Water _

In the tropical rainforest that covered most of Redtail Island far in the south of the Land of Water, heat was a constant of life. The air was humid enough to cut with a kunai year round, so even when the sun set there was no relief from the warmth. Nighttime noises of insects and animals filled the air in the jungle, until they were overtaken by a dead silence broken only by the sounds of movement as every living thing went quiet or fled. A crack of sound like thunder filled the air and beside a tree in the jungle that had been pierced by a three-pronged kunai with a seal etched on the hilt, a figure appeared in a flash of light.

Namikaze Naruto grimaced, leaning against the three for support as he arrived. Even for a jinchuuriki, making a jump between two continents in an instant was draining. The bijuu inside him replenished that chakra in seconds, but the Kyuubi was restless, making its impatience known. The relentless heat didn't help either, and he started sweating immediately. "Yeah, I get it Kurama, you want out," Naruto panted. "Just a few more minutes and we'll be there." Yanking the kunai free of the tree, he returned it to his pouch.

Getting his bearings after leaping into the forest canopy to check the position of the moon and stars, Naruto set off at a sprint through the treetops, headed south for the small fishing village that was Redtail Island's only settlement. This far in the south, close to the edges of the known world, the people barely interacted with the Water Daimyo; they rarely saw his ships or his tax collectors. Too poor and sparsely populated to even attract pirates, the southern islands were dotted with a few subsistence settlements, visited occasionally by a trading vessel seeking exotic goods.

Nearing the fishing village at a speed few shinobi could maintain, Naruto reflected on his devil's deal with Kurama, the bijuu sealed inside him. He was the third jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi since the founding of Konohagakure, and there had been others during the clan era prior to the founding of the ninja villages. There had not, however, been any record of a Kyuubi jinchuuriki who had learned to coexist with Kurama as he had. The others had been merely jailors, but while Naruto was the Kyuubi's prison, they had come to an understanding.

His father Orochimaru's suggestion had started the ball rolling when Naruto had been six and training for two years to use the Kyuubi's chakra without success. 'Has any Kyuubi jinchuuriki ever asked the bijuu what it wants?' the snake Sannin had asked his adoptive son. Entering his inner world, he had endured the demon fox's threats and ranting for several years more before he finally understood the bijuu enough to comprehend its desires.

Coming to a stop on the edge of a cliff, Naruto looked down at the shore below. The dark beach was interrupted by the lights of the village below, houses constructed of bamboo with broad leaves serving as the roof coverings. It was late, but there were still a few people moving around on the sandy paths, and a small crowd of adults gathered in a communal area, some drinking and talking, others dancing. Soft strains of music drifted up to where he stood.

Hearing an impatient growl in the back of his mind, Naruto sighed. "I know," he murmured, then formed a single hand sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Puffs of smoke erupted all around him, resolving themselves into a dozen shadow clones. Sitting down on the cliff edge, Naruto closed his eyes for a moment; releasing his hold on the bijuu and letting Kurama's will flow into the clones. Opening his eyes, he watched them change. Their features became more animalistic and savage, teeth turning to fangs, nails lengthening to claws, fox cloaks springing up around them. The dozen clones exchanged a hungry look and then leapt from the cliff, plummeting downward towards the village.

For a minute or so Naruto lost sight of the clones as they disappeared into the village. After that, the screams started drifting up to his ears, accompanied by the crashing of the waves. "It always starts with the screaming," he commented to nobody. These times, when Kurama was otherwise occupied, were the only times he was truly alone in his own head. "Then comes the killing," he continued.

Naruto's sharp eyes caught people running through the streets, pursued by the bijuu-possessed clones. Kurama killed indiscriminately; women, children and the elderly were not spared. A few men with spears tried to make a stand, and two clones tore them apart with glee. Some of the villagers fled into the jungle, but Kurama had done this many times and got better with practice. The clones he had held back fell upon those who ran.

Eventually, the movement stopped, as most of the villagers were dead. The sound didn't, however; it just changed. The screams and pleas continued, no longer panicked, now pained desperate and pleading. "He takes longer with it than he used to," Naruto observed. Over the years Kurama's massacres had evolved from simply killing everyone to keeping some of his victims alive longer so the demon fox could revel in acts of torture, violation and debasement. Sometimes it bothered him to consider that the Kyuubi's hate and cruelty seemed to be fueling its diabolical imagination.

Naruto had been nine years old when he struck his bargain with the demon fox. Kurama really only wanted one thing: to destroy humans. He hated all of humanity, insects that had done nothing but pester and attack and manipulate and imprison him since he was created. So at his father's suggestion, Naruto had offered the Kyuubi occasional parole in exchange for his chakra, given willingly. Every so often Orochimaru would find him a remote settlement, and Naruto would go there, let the fox free of its leash, and let it slaughter to its black heart's content.

After a while the last screams faded, and yellow-orange flame started to leap from building to building. "He always finishes with the burning." Kurama loved fire, especially when it was consuming human homes and bodies. Sitting on the cliff top, Naruto watched the dead village burn. Sometimes the destruction fell upon icy villages in the far north of the Land of Lightning, or mountain hamlets tucked away among the peaks of the Land of Earth, or strange settlements far to the west of the Land of Wind were the language spoken wasn't even understandable to him. With his birth father's Hiraishin no Jutsu distance became irrelevant.

When the flames started to abate the Kyuubi released the clones, sated, and Naruto shuddered. The drawback of letting Kurama out to play was that he wound up with all of the memories of what the demon fox had done. He'd never understood that aspect of the shadow clone technique until after he'd done unleashed Kurama for the first time, at a farmstead close to the border between the Lands of Wind and Fire. He hadn't understood that his nine year old mind would be seared with the memories of tearing helpless people limb from limb. Naruto had always had a strict upbringing and high expectations from his adoptive parents, but he could vaguely remember being cheerful, being happier and more optimistic, telling jokes and pulling pranks, sometimes even fooling his papa Orochimaru.

That Naruto was a decade deceased now. His father insisted he continue his partnership with Kurama, arguing that it was necessary for the village's defense. Pleasing the only person who looked at him without fear meant everything to Naruto, so he did it without question and accepted the nightmares. Sometimes he wondered how much of himself he'd lost along the way.

No one had ever said anything about his relationship with Sakura when they were genin, but sometimes he wondered if Kurama's influence had been what made his attempt to express his interest in the pinkette end so poorly. He knew he had cared for her, and compared to everything he'd seen through Kurama's eyes by then, what did it matter if she cried and struggled a little when he took her? At least he knew that he'd been justified in scarring her when she'd willfully defaced her own beauty. That was a betrayal, and Orochimaru had taught him all his life that betrayers were unforgivable. After all, he'd let her live, which was more mercy than his father showed to traitors.

Sitting on the cliff watching the last embers go dark down below, he was startled to feel water trickling down his cheeks. Had it started raining? Glancing up, Naruto saw that it was indeed cloudy. He didn't feel anymore raindrops though, just the moisture on his face. Odd. "Don't want to get caught in a tropical storm," he murmured, and the demon fox voiced its lazy agreement. That said he summoned his chakra, and Namikaze Naruto teleported thousands of kilometers in an instant, returning home.

* * *

Sira of Sunagakure had never been a sedentary type. As a little girl almost as soon as she could walk she started running. Her father – a retired ninja – had taught her to fight and mold chakra from an early age, and she'd always been on the move.

Grun of Iwagakure had taken away everything she had and knew when he shattered her spine, and he'd done it just for spite. Sira had no inclination towards medicine and she didn't understand all the fancy words the doctors in Sky City used when they explained her injury, but she got the gist of it. Her spine was severed just above her waist. She'd never walk – or run – again. Her life as a ninja was over.

Sira had believed that, and cried herself to sleep every night for weeks afterwards. It wasn't something she was proud of, but if the loss wasn't bad enough, fear of the future compounded it. Her job skills were mostly useless in a cripple's body, and she hadn't even made chuunin before being sidelined. She had dreaded going home and seeing the looks on her family's faces, of being relegated to a diminished life. What would she do for a living? Would any man want to marry her like this? Sira knew she was no great beauty like Amaya or Temari-sensei. She'd simply dreamed of being a strong kunoichi, and without that she didn't know what to do.

Watching the sun set while sitting on the edge of a sandstone cliff in a stretch of badlands and scrub forest technically claimed by the Land of Earth but virtually uninhabited in reality, Sira reflected with a small amount of guilt that she was glad she'd been captured by the Akatsuki. She felt guilty because Rahl and Temari-sensei were both unhappy, but the Akatsuki had given her something that she couldn't have gotten anywhere else. Sira wasn't ready to tell her teammates that she wasn't going home even when and if they were released, but she'd already made the decision. Back in Sunagakure she'd just be charity case, but here, she could walk again.

"It's time to go back," her Zetsu reminded her, and Sira nodded.

"Okay." Putting her hands under her, she rose to her feet. From neck to toe her body was wrapped in the skin-tight embrace of a modified white Zetsu. She'd been skeptical when one of the normal white Zetsu that took care of her came to understand her injury and offered her the chance to walk again, but it worked. The next day he's come to her with a faceless Zetsu that wrapped its body around hers, forming a seamless suit of half-flesh half-wood armor around her. It had hurt the first time it sank its tendrils into her body, but when its nervous system linked with hers and she could feel and move its legs as easily as she had her own, it had been worth it. It was a bit creepy at first wearing one of the pasty clones, especially since it talked and had a personality just like the others, but she'd come to the conclusion that Zetsu wasn't so bad once you got to know him.

Sira moved to the edge of the narrow sandstone butte and crouched before jumping, sailing high into the air. With white Zetsu's chakra working with her own her body was actually stronger than it had been prior to her injury, and her endurance was multiplied from the level it had been at before. Zetsu had tried to explain it to her, something about its half-plant nature allowing its cells to store chakra more efficiently, but the science went over her head. What she enjoyed were the results. She'd always been fast, but with Zetsu she could keep up a blazing pace for hours on end. She proved it heading home, leaping from one pillar of stone to the next high above the ground. The sun had been below the horizon for more than an hour before Sira reached her destination, in an area with a bit more water and foliage.

Making her way with ease to the entrance of the base, the invisible door in the rock opened in response to her presence, and Sira slipped inside. The hallways of the underground base were familiar to her now, at least the sections she was allowed to enter. Wearing Zetsu, she didn't have to worry about wandering anywhere prohibited; he'd let her know. A short walk took her to the apartment she shared with Rahl and Poe, and she opened the door and entered.

"Hey, Sira," Poe said absently, not even looking up from his work. Both of his puppets had been damaged after his exam match against Lorn of Kirigakure, so he'd been anticipating having to repair them once he got home. Instead, he would up being a 'guest' of an organization that included the most skilled ninja puppeteer Sunagakure had ever produced. Once Sasori found out Poe's specialty, he'd given the genin some parts and plans that had Poe practically vibrating from excitement. It seemed to puzzle Rahl that their host was letting Poe re-arm himself with puppets that would be deadlier and more effective than his last ones, but Sira suspected that Sasori's gift was having the same effect on Poe that Zetsu's had on her.

"Did you have a nice trip?" Rahl inquired crossly, not getting up from where he was sprawled on the sofa.

Sira sighed. "You know you're welcome to come with me, Rahl. Konan-sama already said you could." Of the three of them, Rahl chafed the most visibly at their new circumstances. Sira couldn't blame him for being upset at having his abilities sealed away by the engraved metal bands around his wrists. No chains connected them, so he could move freely, but even the Akatsuki were wary of leaving a practitioner of the Scorch Release completely unrestrained, so the bracers locked onto his arms blocked the abilities he'd had all his life.

"Excuse me for being a little less eager than you two to partake of our captor's largesse," Rahl replied acidly.

"What do you want from me, Rahl?" Sira demanded, crossing her arms. "Would it make you happier if I stopped using Zetsu and spent all day in bed?"

Rahl shook his head, having the grace to look guilty. "I'm sorry Sira, it's just… I want to go home. Besides, doesn't it bother you what Sasori did to Temari-sensei?"

"I think it worries all of us, Rahl," Poe interjected, looking up from the half-assembled, crocodilian puppet he called Salamander. Sasori had made no secret of what he'd done to their sensei to ensure her safety, and she made no secret of her distaste for their captor even as she obeyed him. "Temari-sensei's a good person, and I feel bad for her. But tell me Sasori-sama's wrong about Sunagakure."

"He's wrong," Rahl muttered.

"Okay, now say it like _you_ believe it, Rahl," Sira said skeptically.

"Okay, yes!" Rahl burst out. "The Kazekage is a psychotic animal and his father wasn't much better even without a demon inside him! What are we supposed to do about it? I've seen what the Kazekage's sand does to his enemies and I'll pass on dying like that, thank you."

"If they'd let us go tomorrow, what would you do, Rahl? Go home?" Poe asked quietly. "Keep your head down and act like nothing happened? Ignore what we've learned here?"

"In a heartbeat," Rahl insisted. "What's your plan, Poe? Become Sasori's apprentice?"

"If he'll have me, yes," the stocky puppeteer replied quietly as he tightened a bolt, ignoring Rahl's scandalized expression. Even Sira was looking at him in surprise, and he gave her a laconic glance. "Oh, don't look at me like that Sira. You're staying, too. You can hardly take Zetsu home with you. There would be some awkward questions."

When Sira didn't deny Poe's claim, Rahl looked back and forth between them. "You're both losing it," he said slowly. "You're really thinking about going missing-nin?"

"What do I have to look forward to in Sunagakure, Rahl?" Sira demanded. "You've seen crippled ex-ninja begging in the streets. I refuse to live like that, or be _taken care of_ for the rest of my life. Not when there's an alternative."

"The alternative is an early grave, Sira!" Rahl exclaimed. "Yes, these Akatsuki are a handful of powerful missing-nin, but they can't protect you from the Hidden Villages, and this goal of theirs of deposing the kages is delusional. I don't think they even have a plan. They'll all get killed eventually, and then where will you be?"

"Maybe you're right, Rahl," Sira said quietly. "But I'd rather die on my feet than on my back. Poe's right; I'm staying if the Akatsuki have a use for me." Wrapped around her, Zetsu hummed reassuringly. When she'd been contemplating staying, she'd talked to Zetsu. She hadn't wanted to assume that the one that she was paired with would be willing to continue in its role longer-term, but she'd been assured that the white Zetsu, while sentient, had a somewhat different mindset than humans, and the one she was wearing was willing to continue being her legs for as long as she needed it; others of its kind had filled similar purposes for long periods of time.

"You're okay with that too, Poe? Is being hunted for the rest of your life worth some of Sasori's knowledge?" Rahl asked.

Poe shook his head. "I'm not staying just to learn. I'm staying because I believe in Sasori-sama's goal. Sunagakure is broken, and I'd like to help fix it." He looked at Rahl. "You know I'm an orphan." Sunagakure's shinobi academy recruited many of its students from the village's orphanages. "It was only recently that I found out what happened to my parents. The Yondaime Kazekage killed them when I was a baby. You know the best part? It wasn't even for a good reason, like failing a critical mission or endangering the village. They objected to the Kazekage's decision to assassinate the Wind Daimyo's heir in order to ensure someone more pliable would be the next daimyo; others protested too, but my parents were the ones who were made an example of. Tell me Gaara's any different. I'd like to see a village where the Kazekage's advisors aren't murdered for giving him advice. Call me crazy." Poe's voice was cold and bitter as he spoke, and when he finished an uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

Eventually Rahl got to his feet, looking at both of them searchingly before turning away. "Do what you want," he spat, before retreating to his room and slamming the door behind him.

* * *

Uchiha Amaya struggled to relax as she walked into the dimly lit rural tavern, but she couldn't help being tense and worried. She wasn't anticipating a pleasant afternoon, but she was hoping to at least be listened to. There was a time when she would have been intimidated just walking into a place like this alone; it was heading towards evening, and the tavern was full of farmers, laborers and merchant's porters, all busy quaffing cheap, cloudy beer. The only other woman in the tap room was the hefty, middle-aged proprietress behind the bar, and Amaya knew she was also the youngest person in the building by several years, at fourteen. If she were a civilian she wouldn't have been admitted, but ninja were considered adults once they graduated from the academy. She could drink, manage her own money, enter into contracts - even get married, if she'd wanted to.

Amaya felt a bit of relief when her eyes adjusted to the dim light in the tavern's tap room and she spotted three men at a table in the back who were looking at her intently. She headed for their table. All three were cut from the same cloth, Weathered, tanned skin, peasants homespun tunics and trousers and sturdy boots caked with mud. All three had hard gray eyes and bright red hair. The eldest of the three, Ken's father Isamu Ryu was going gray, while his brothers Mugen and Ro looked enough like older and more tanned versions of Ken that it made Amaya's heart ache. But she wasn't here to grieve, and all three of them looked hostile enough that she was grateful they'd come at all. She wasn't sure they'd show when she'd written to them.

When Amaya pulled up a chair and sat down, projecting confidence she didn't feel Ryu got straight to the point. "We're here for one reason, Uchiha," he rumbled, making 'Uchiha' sound like a curse. "Your note said you wanted to talk about providing for my girls. So talk."

Amaya nodded, halfway relieved. She wasn't sure she could have endured pleasantries. "Believe what you want about me, but Ken was my friend, and as his friend I want to fulfill his goal. He became a ninja to provide for his family, and I intend to do that in his place." Reaching into her pouch she removed and smoothed out an envelope, sliding it across the table to Ryu, who picked it up cautiously. "That letter gives you access to a quarter million ryo placed in an account in your name at the local farmer's bank." Ryu didn't react visibly, but Mugen and Ro looked surprised. Amaya knew that amount was almost as much as they were paid for an entire harvest in a good year. "In addition, I've set up four trust accounts in the Konohagakure Central Bank containing the same amount, one in the name of each of Ken's sisters. They'll remain there and accrue interest until each of the girls turns eighteen or leaves home, at which time the funds will revert to their control."

Even Ryu looked startled at that. Amaya had in effect provided enough money for an education or a generous dowry to each of Ken's sisters. Ryu set the envelope back down on the table. "Why are you doing this?" he asked plainly. "Do you think you can buy our forgiveness? No amount of money can bring my son back."

Amaya shook her head. "No. I didn't mean to kill Ken, but he died by my hand and nothing can change that. I don't deserve forgiveness, nor do I expect it," she said heavily, "but Ken's sisters shouldn't have to suffer for my mistake. Please accept this," she said, pushing the envelope towards him again, "for Ken and your daughters, not for me."

After a moment Ryu picked up the envelope and slipped it into his tunic. "I understand." He rose to his feet and his sons did the same. "I don't know if I can forgive you, Uchiha Amaya. But I do thank you." He said no more before leaving.

Amaya sat alone at the table for a short while her racing pulse slowed. All things considered that had gone well. She hadn't expected them to give her any slack, but at least they hadn't refused the money. Her grandparents would probably call her foolish for doing that, but she didn't care. In a few months she'd be leaving for the Land of Lightning for three years.

Amaya looked up when someone sat down next to her, placing a tankard of ale in front of her. "That looked difficult," Tenten observed, holding a drink of her own.

"You followed me?" Amaya said, feeling surprised and a little irritated.

Tenten shrugged, her expression unapologetic. "When I realized where you were headed, yes."

"I don't need your protection, sensei," Amaya said. "I'm a big girl. Chuunin? Off to be a daimyo's bodyguard?"

Tenten just smiled at her placidly and took a long drink. "You should try some. It's not bad." When Amaya took a cautious sip of the mildly bitter but flavorful local ale, Tenten continued. "I didn't think for a second you'd need someone to protect you, Amaya. I did think you might want someone to talk to, or share a drink with when you were done. Besides, if you think I'm going to stop caring about you or butting into your life occasionally, you fail to understand how this relationship works. Maito Gai hasn't been my direct superior for almost six years, but I still talk to him all the time. I even seek out his advice occasionally. I suspect he still worries about me when I go off on a dangerous mission, and I'm a jounin now."

"All right, all right," Amaya said, conceding defeat. "Is the hugging going to stop at least?" Amaya murmured after another sip.

"I make no promises. I've observed that those raised in ninja families tend to be severely hug-deficient, I'm just making up the lost balance," Tenten said brightly, before taking a more serious tone. "It looked like they took the money."

"You were listening in, too?" Amaya inquired.

"Nope. I waited by the bar until they left, but Ryu was carrying something in his pocket that wasn't there when he arrived."

"Yeah, they took the money. They still hate me, but you can't have anything," Amaya admitted, downing some more of the ale.

Tenten nodded. "Appealing to reason can be impossible when emotions get there first. Isamu Ryu isn't a fool, he may even understand intellectually that Ken's death was an accident, but that doesn't change what he feels. Give them time."

Amaya nodded and finished the ale, feeling a pleasant buzz. She rarely consumed alcohol. "I think I'd like another of these," she decided.

"Sure," Tenten said, finishing her own drink and waving the proprietress over.

When they had refilled tankards, Amaya raised hers. "To Ken."

"To Ken," Tenten agreed with a clink of glass.

* * *

Much later in the evening, Tenten casually strolled home through the streets of Konohagakure, having just dropped off her intoxicated former student at the gates of the Uchiha compound. She was pleasantly buzzed herself, not drunk enough to affect her much, but feeling light and happy. She'd matched Amaya drink for drink, but Amaya had neither her body mass nor her tolerance, so it hadn't been much of a contest. She was glad her Uchiha student hadn't made the mistake of drinking alone her first time getting drunk, although Tenten admitted that Amaya probably could have handled it. Like most Uchiha she'd seen in bars Amaya was a fairly morose drunk, and a bit violent, though admittedly the equally soused village youth who'd staggered over to their table to hit on her had it coming; get drunk enough to touch a kunoichi without her permission and you were asking for worse than the bloody nose, bruised ribs and wounded pride that Amaya had left him with.

It had been nice just to see Amaya relax and open up a bit, and talk to her without turning into a ball of tension and fear. Tenten agreed with Kaede that an extended trip to the Land of Lightning would probably do the both of them good, even though she'd miss them. "My girls are growing up," she admitted wistfully.

Cutting through the park near her apartment, she headed for home. Neji was gone for a week, travelling with his ailing uncle to get in some face time with a handful of the Hyuuga clan's most important clients and allies outside the village, making sure that they knew about and were comfortable with the change in succession before it became known to the general public. Neji had already started attending meetings of the Hokage's Inner Council in Hiashi's place, and Tenten had already slipped two separate reports to Kabuto relating to issues he'd discussed with her, allied village troop movements and plans in the hunt for Akatsuki being of particular import.

Tenten had yet to press Neji for any information, simply taking what he passed on voluntarily. It worried Tenten privately how personally Neji seemed to hate the Akatsuki, especially since it was all based on a lie she'd created to return to Konohagakure. He hated them because he thought they'd tortured her, and she felt sick when she thought about how he'd react if he ever found out she'd joined them.

Slightly tipsy and lost in her private worries, Tenten was already inside her apartment when she picked up the muted chakra presence the next room over. She knew Neji was out of town and no one else had a key, so she dipped her hand into her weapons pouch. "I think you're going to regret coming here," she predicted, palming a fan of kunai in one hand and some useful seals in the other as she turned the corner, hurling the kunai at the figure shrouded in shadow standing in the corner of the living room.

Tenten's uninvited guest caught the kunai out of the air between his fingers. "I have regrets, but coming here isn't one of them," a very familiar voice replied, before the intruder stepped forward, and Tenten gasped as light from the window revealed long blond hair, a piercing blue eye and a black cloak with red clouds.

"Deidara!" she said in shock. "Have you lost your mind? What are you doing here?"

"I had to see you," he said simply, stepping around the couch to move closer to her.

Tenten took a few steps back before she felt her back meet the wall. "Deidara, you can't be here! We're in the middle of Konohagakure and the ANBU still watch me!" Glancing at the windows she slipped to the side and darted over to them, yanking the heavy drapes closed and plunging the room into darkness.

Deidara's arms slipped around her waist from behind and he pulled her tight against him, her back pressed to his chest. After a moment of alarm she relaxed in spite of herself, feeling the heat of his body against hers. "I had to see you," he said again, his breath warm against her neck. "Kami, I've missed you Tenten." She shivered when he kissed her neck.

It would be so easy to just enjoy his touch and be glad that he wasn't mad at her, but Tenten forced herself to focus: his presence here was not a good thing. Turning in his arms she flicked on the lamp beside the window to light the room and looked at him seriously. "Does Sasori know you're here?"

Deidara's expression darkened. "I don't want to talk about Sasori," he growled.

_That's a no, then_, Tenten concluded as she drew away from him. "I'm not happy with Sasori either, but your presence is what concerns me. You shouldn't be in Konohagakure."

Deidara waved a hand dismissively. "You taught me how to match my chakra to a henge, remember? I wore a face no one cares about through the gate, and I'll do the same when I leave. As for the Leaf ANBU patrols, I was evading the notice of ANBU before I hit puberty."

_Of all the thick-headed, arrogant-!_ Tenten punched him in the chest, hard enough to bruise, almost enjoying his look of hurt surprise. "You're still endangering my cover coming here. What are you doing, Deidara?"

"I couldn't leave things the way they were after the sealing of the Nibi," he confessed. "I wasn't fair to you. I know Sasori pushed you into a corner, and you didn't want to take this mission. I shouldn't have pressed you on assassinating the Hyuuga, even if I do want to kill him with every fiber of my being just for touching you. This must be harder for you than it is for me, having to pretend to care about him every day. I came to apologize."

Tenten hugged herself, nodding because she didn't trust herself to speak. Guilt assailed her, because being with Neji wasn't hard, it was seductively easy. It was getting harder to pretend that she was pretending to love him. She couldn't let Deidara see a hint of that, or she didn't know what he would do.

"Kami, I wish this was over," Deidara murmured as he encircled her in his arms again. "It's cruel that you have to do this."

"You're right. But when this is all over and no one has to live in fear of the kages, the sacrifices and hard choices will be worth it. I have to believe that," Tenten replied truthfully.

Slipping his fingers under her chin, Deidara tilted her head up, and lowered his to kiss her. It was intoxicating, revitalizing, honest in a way that kissing Neji wasn't because of the lies between them, and Tenten was sorely tempted to accept the comfort Deidara offered, to lose herself in it, but that was dangerous, and she couldn't help but feel that one more betrayal would break her, so she pulled away from him, trying not to see the hurt in his blue eye. "I- I can't, Deidara. Not right now," she said, breathing harder than she would have liked.

"I understand," he said, stepping back and drawing his cloak around him. "I'm sorry for coming here like this. I should go." His hands moved under the cloak, and with a puff of smoke he turned into a plain-looking Land of Fire citizen, his Akatsuki cloak transformed into a simple travel duster. "When this mission is over, Tenten," he said, even his voice different in the henge, "I'll be there for you. I just wanted to say that."

Tenten nodded. "Thank you," she said quietly, managing to keep her voice steady. Deidara made his way to the window and peeked through the drapes, waiting a minute before disappearing out the window.

Tenten waited until he was gone before collapsing onto the couch, hugging herself. "I don't know what will be left of me when this mission is over," she admitted to the empty room. "I don't know who I'll be."

Silence was her only answer.

* * *

_Author's Note: That was slightly depressing. Ah well. The fun's just beginning, I assure you! Amaya and Kaede are off to the Land of Lightning in our next installment, and things get more interesting for Tenten in Konohagakure._


	26. The Land of Lightning

**Chapter 26: The Land of Lightning**

* * *

Tenten decided it was fitting that it rained on the day that Hyuuga Hiashi was laid to rest in the clan's cemetery, hidden in a copse of willows on the Hyuuga compound. Late in the evening after the funeral, Tenten was awake. Sleep had eluded her, though not so for Neji, nestled against her in his bed in the Hyuuga compound. It was probably the last time they'd be together in this room, since he'd be moving into the clan head's chambers once the period of mourning ended.

While the funeral of a clan's head was in part an intensely private matter for the clan in question, Hyuuga Hiashi was also one of the pillars of Konohagakure, an international figure of some repute, and one of the few shinobi in the Land of Fire who also held a title in the daimyo's court. So as much as some aspects of his funeral might be private, the burial of the Hyuuga clan's leader was also a major event for Konohagakure and the entire country.

Hiashi's public memorial just days earlier, attended by the Fire Daimyo and half of his court and presided over by the Hokage in full regalia, had been a massive affair. Entire sections of the village largely shut down for the day, and virtually every shinobi in the village not actively on a mission was in attendance. Even the Uchiha, whose relationship with the Hyuuga was icy at best, showed up to pay their respects, historical enmity buried – if not forgotten – for a day. It had been warm and sunny for the public memorial, which was fortunate, as the attendance was too massive to have conducted it indoors; it had been held in the shadow of the cliff where the faces of Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Orochimaru were carved.

Tenten's presence at the public memorial had been a matter of course. She sat near Neji, but so did Rock Lee and Maito Gai. Standing beside Neji inside the Hyuuga compound as Hiashi was committed to the earth attracted far more attention. She was one of only a handful of non-Hyuuga at the actual burial, and she could feel hard looks boring into the back of her skull from some of Neji's relatives who seemed to feel that her relationship with the new clan head was not reason enough for her presence. But because Neji was the new clan head, and because Hiashi's daughters Hinata and Hanabi didn't object to her presence, the dissenters restricted themselves to reproachful glances.

Left to her own judgment Tenten wouldn't have come because she was aware of how some of the Hyuuga viewed her: simply beneath Neji's status at best and an opportunistic gold digger at worst. Neji had insisted that he wanted her there, however, and as Hiashi's casket was lowered into the ground she was glad that she had come, standing with her arm around Hinata's shoulders as her fellow kunoichi leaned against her and wept quietly.

Tenten hadn't been joking in her observation to Amaya that children from ninja families did not receive sufficient hugs. The Hyuuga were about as warm and comforting as a collection of ice sculptures. Hanabi was too busy trying to look like her father's death didn't affect her to comfort her sister, and Hinata didn't have any close relatives left besides Hanabi and Neji, so an 'outsider' would have to do for a shoulder to cry on. Tenten was almost tempted to tell the clan's elders where to stick their disapproving looks, but settled for ignoring them.

The elderly priest who tended the Hyuuga compound's shrine and had been present for the births of many of those living present and the funerals of as many of the dead around them spoke warmly of Hiashi's life and legacy. Then it was Neji's turn to address his clan, and he spoke frankly of his youthful rift with his uncle beginning with his father's death, and how mending that gulf between them as an adult had given him a fresh respect and appreciation for his uncle. Neji struck just the right tone, one of conciliation, and Tenten could tell that Neji would likely accomplish what Sasori feared; a better relationship between the main and branch families of the Hyuuga. Tenten couldn't bring herself to believe that this was a bad thing, however; Neji at the head of a strong Hyuuga clan would be an asset to Konohagakure when Orochimaru was laid to rest.

The service wasn't long, and the dinner afterward had lightened the mood, with many toasts and remembrances from Hiashi's friends and family. It wasn't until they were alone in his quarters that Neji allowed himself to grieve. He didn't weep for his uncle; Neji had never been demonstrative in that way. But they talked late into the night, and once he fell asleep he clung tightly to her as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Tenten reflected on what the future was likely to bring. Sasori was happy with the information she was gleaning from Neji, even if ever missive slipped to Kabuto hurt like the betrayal it was. At least an ending was looming. Neji would be clan head in truth soon, and the elders would immediately start pressing him to marry some young noblewoman or merchant's daughter to expand the influence of the Hyuuga. She doubted he'd be able to avoid it, and then their long love affair would be over and she could see if there was anything left to mend between her and Deidara.

Tenten tried not to think about the ugly possibility that Sasori and the Leader might order her to become Neji's mistress even if he married. She'd like to think that Neji wouldn't do something like that, but if forced into a loveless marriage, he might. She also didn't relish what that would do to her reputation in Konohagakure. Secrets like that tended to get out in a Hidden Village, and she'd lose the respect of people she cared about if it did.

_There's no use worrying about 'maybe's,_ Tenten reminded herself firmly. _There are enough troubles in the present. _Looking at the outline of Neji's sleeping face in the dark she couldn't deny the truth anymore. She loved him, as tragic and doomed as their love was. She loved Deidara, too, and missed him with an aching fierceness that had hardly faded since their last meeting. _What a terrible woman I am. To think I spent years looking down on Ino for the harem of men she's kept panting at her heels. She's never hurt any of them as badly as I've hurt Deidara. As badly as I'll hurt Neji once this all unravels._ In time a troubled sleep claimed Tenten, though she woke still exhausted, and plagued by the guilt that rarely left her now.

* * *

For both Kaede and Amaya, the day when they'd set out for the Land of Lightning once more had approached amid a flurry of activity and not a little trepidation. The Hokage had expressed his confidence in them when they were promoted, but the reality was still sobering. They were chuunin now, and setting out on a high stakes job. They were representing their village in another nation, and they didn't have a jounin to back them up and catch their mistakes anymore. The fact that they were on their own really sank in when they crossed the border of the Land of Fire. Neither had left the country without the presence and supervision of older shinobi.

Kaede and Amaya traveled swiftly across the patchwork of smaller nations that existed between the Lands of Lightning and Fire, staying at roadside inns when they found them, and camping under the stars when they passed through wild areas where they didn't see another soul for days. The trip was long even at the speed a pair of chuunin could travel, but they'd given themselves more than enough time to arrive by the date stipulated in their contract.

The trip was a time of healing for both kunoichi. Amaya knew there was still a distance between them, the secret of the Mangekyo sharingan that she couldn't share even with her closest friend, but they had time to talk and bond again, and come to some closure on the topic of Ken's death. Amaya doubted the guilt would ever go away completely, but the pain was a bit fainter with each day that passed.

When they'd entered the Land of Lightning just months earlier for the Chuunin Exam, Team Four had waited at the border for ninja from Kumogakure to make contact. This time they crossed and kept going. Their destination was the daimyo's capital, and they were under orders to present themselves directly. Kaede's kikai bugs allowed the pair to easily skirt the patrols they did encounter. All five of the great Hidden Villages patrolled the borders of their nations, but over such a large area, the patrols were only going to provide reliable warning of large invasions; a pair of chuunin weren't going to be caught unless they were spectacularly unlucky or inept.

Weeks after departing Konohagakure, Kaede and Amaya crossed the last mountain pass and came within sight of the Land of Lightning's capital, seat of the daimyo. Unlike Kumogakure and Sky City which were located high in the mountains, the capital was located in a wide and verdant valley in the southeast of the nation. It took them another full day after entering the valley to reach the gates, passing outlying towns and villages, and irrigated, terraced fields that filled the valley up to the slopes of the mountains.

Arriving at the gates of the capital, Amaya and Kaede were passed through without delay after displaying their writ of passage to the daimyo's palace, and escorted through the large, bustling city to the palace, its walls and gate even more impressive than the one they'd just passed through.

"Ken would have loved this," Amaya reflected wistfully as they were escorted into the palace, a massive edifice of stone and lacquered wood gilded with precious metals. "His jaw would be hanging on the floor." As clan scions, both Amaya and Kaede had been to the Land of Fire's capital and exposed to the lavish wealth of the nobility, but Ken – who had considered their homes luxurious – would have been floored by the ostentatious riches on display in the daimyo's palace.

Even the barracks attached to the palace that housed the capital's standing army of soldiers and samurai, as well as his elite ninja Royal Guard, was an architectural marvel of scale and beauty. Whole regiments of soldiers conducted exercises in the main courtyard as they passed through, thousands of enlisted warriors moving as one to the time of drums and officers.

None of these men would last five seconds against a shinobi like Amaya or Kaede, but their strength was numbers, not individual skill. Lead by samurai generals, a daimyo could field hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a time of war, while even Konohagakure, the largest Hidden Village, could field only perhaps ten thousand ninja, including reserves and retired shinobi not on active duty.

After crossing the courtyard they entered the barracks proper, and were guided into the section reserved for the Royal Guard. Amaya and Kaede were deposited outside the office of the Commander of the Guard, where they waited for perhaps half an hour before they were ushered inside by a deferential secretary.

Both kunoichi were peripherally aware of the fine furnishings of the office, but their focus was on the woman behind the desk, their direct commander for the next three years. The Hokage's office had provided them with briefing materials on their employers so they wouldn't be going in blind. As a result, Kaede and Amaya both knew who and what Umina Kikiyo was.

By appearance she was a lush-figured woman in her early forties, possessed of a mature beauty unmarred by lines of age. She reclined in a comfortable-looking chair, garbed in a fine robe of imperial blue silk lined around its hem, sleeves and plunging neck line with the fur of a white tiger. The garment left her shoulders and the upper slopes of her truly impressive bosom bare, revealing a curving expanse of dusky skin. Her wide, sultry eyes were violet and capped by impossibly long lashes. Her flowing hair, white not from age but birth, was caught up above her head in an elaborate hair dress supported by golden needles capped with sapphires. In her hand she held a folded jade fan woven with black silk.

Officially, Kikiyo was the commander of the Lightning Daimyo's Royal Guard and had been for a decade. Less officially, she was also the daimyo's mistress, and held more power in the Land of Lightning than his current wife. Kikiyo's eight year old son was rumored to be the daimyo's bastard. Despite her appearance, she hadn't gotten her job through seduction or political acumen; Kikiyo was a kunoichi almost as legendary as Tsunade Senju of the Sannin, and she'd killed the previous Royal Guard Commander in a duel, taking the position over his smoking corpse.

Both kunoichi bowed politely once the stood before Kikiyo's desk. "So you're the pair Raishi hired from the Hidden Leaf to piss off A," were the first words out of Kikiyo's mouth after scrutinizing them in silence for a minute, delivered in a throaty purr. "My, they do start chuunin young in Konohagakure. What are you two, thirteen?"

Kaede inclined her head. "Yes, commander."

"I'm fourteen, commander," Amaya answered respectfully.

"An Aburame and an Uchiha," Kikiyo said thoughtfully. "Clans noted and feared throughout the Elemental Nations for producing skilled shinobi. Not so much for fielding kunoichi, though."

The statement didn't demand an answer, so neither girl provided one, remaining at attention. "Well, you impressed the daimyo in Sky City, and we'll see just how skilled you are in short order. You certainly managed to make my sister-in-law's nephew look like a fool in the first set of the Final Round, Uchiha. Oh, you should have heard her rage about that, and the 'unfairness' of his execution," Kikiyo observed.

Amaya suppressed any outward sign of alarm or dismay. Kikiyo had the power to make her time here rather unpleasant if she chose, and if she was related to Soren, that wasn't a good sign. It also hadn't been mentioned in the Hokage's briefing packet.

Watching Amaya like a hawk watches a mouse, Kikiyo quirked an eyebrow and then smiled at the lack of a reaction. "No sweating? No protests? I guess you do have a bit of that Uchiha steel in there. Fortunately for you, I despise my sister-in-law and her self-entitled brood." Amaya let her shoulders sag a bit in genuine relief, and Kikiyo tapped her fan against her full lips thoughtfully.

"I'd imagine you're both weary from your travels," Kikiyo said abruptly. "Come with me." Rising to her feet Kikiyo preceded them out the door. Amaya and Kaede followed dutifully. The full-figured commander lead them through hallways and down a long set of stairs to an area with bare walls of stone blocks, lit by torches. Kaede and Amaya exchanged a wary look. Either the quarters of the Royal Guard were fairly simple, or they were being taken somewhere else.

The walk through hallways continued by the light of scattered torches. After passing through an area that was nearly dark, they followed Kikiyo into a larger room with stone arches supporting the high ceiling. More torches lit the room. Past Kikiyo they could see a man standing on the other side of the room, if the misshapen, mountainous lump of flesh and hair that faced them could be called a man.

He was beyond ugly, well into the realm of hideous. One eye was larger and higher on his face than the other, his nose was a squashed lump the size of a turnip covered in hair and warts. His slanted, gaping mouth was home to only a handful of blackened teeth. He was corpulent, his figure almost round, with wide, drooping rolls of fat covered in coarse, greasy hair shrouding his body. His arms and legs were like great, sweaty hams, and his fingers were as thick as sausages. There was apparently some muscle under all of the man's fat, however, as his meaty right hand was wrapped around the haft of a battle axe that was taller than Amaya or Kaede and probably outweighed either of them. He was well over two meters tall from his broad, callused feet to the lank nest of filthy black hair on the crown of his head.

As both young kunoichi stiffened in alarm, two things happened at once. A heavy metal portcullis fell down across the entryway behind them with a loud 'clang', and Kikiyo's figure wavered and disappeared.

_She managed a genjutsu? On us? _Amaya thought incredulously, seeing the same thought in Kaede's startled eyes. Neither of them was easily taken by illusions. "There's always a test," Amaya and Kaede said at the same time, with identical tones of resignation.

"Very good, girls," Kikiyo congratulated them with a slow clap, emerging from the shadows on the other side of the multi-ton metal gate that now separated them. "Your new friend there is a bandit chieftain named Abodo. He preyed on the daimyo's subjects for years before we caught him. I've offered him parole if he can defeat the pair of you, so I sincerely hope you can kill him first. Consider this foul creature's execution your first order as members of the Royal Guard."

"Yes, commander," they both replied by reflex as they stepped apart, moving to flank him and force the bandit to focus on two targets.

"Such pretty ones you give me, Kikiyo," Abodo slurred out, his misshapen mouth giving him such a severe lisp that he was hard to understand. He used his free hand to grope his crotch obscenely over the loincloth that was his only article of clothing. "I'm honored."

"Kami, it's like Grun all over again," Kaede commented, "except uglier and less intelligent."

"I think Grun smelled better, too," Amaya added, wrinkling her nose. Ten meters away she could smell the stench of Abodo's unwashed body. Deciding she didn't want to get any closer to the disgusting man even to put a kunai in his eye, Amaya formed hand signs. "Katon: Gokakyu!"

The meter-high fireball spilled from Amaya's lips and crossed the distance between them in an instant. As she'd suspected the corpulent bandit wasn't fast enough to avoid it and the flames engulfed him, finding rich tinder in his greasy, hairy skin. Amaya and Kaede both stepped back, wincing at the stench of burning flesh.

After a moment Amaya frowned. Abodo wasn't the first bandit she'd incinerated with her clan's signature jutsu, but usually they started screaming and running, fell down, or both almost immediately. Abodo just stood there. After a moment his skin and the outer layer of his flesh actually seemed to melt and slough off of him, carrying the flames with them to form a puddle of burning blubber around his feet. Then Abodo stepped forward out of the smoke, seemingly none the worse for the wear other than being minus his loincloth now, his oversized genitals swinging freely and a dark grin on his twisted face as he looked at Amaya and tightened his grip on his axe.

"Did I forget to mention that Abodo's a chakra savant?" Kikiyo asked innocently. "Oh how forgetful of me! He actually made himself a belt of samurai scalps thanks to that trick before we had to send ninja after him. Shrugged off arrows and swords as easily as fire, I'm afraid."

"Great," Amaya muttered. Chakra savants were freaks of nature, humans with untrained chakra potential who instinctively developed one unique jutsu. While savants were limited to that single ability, they were often weird and powerful enough to cause trouble for their opponents.

"That hurt, little girl," Abodo slurred as strands of yellowed spittle flying from his lips as he spoke. "But I'll hurt you real good before I'm done!" Then he charged Amaya with a roar, bringing his axe back and swinging it at her midsection, attempting to cut her in two.

"Gross," Amaya muttered, before jumping over the swing, placing one foot on the flat of the blade as it passed under her and using it as a springboard to move higher, bringing her other foot down on his upturned face with vicious force before flipping high above and behind him and reaching the vaulted ceiling, planting her feet on it and sticking there with chakra. As Abodo glared up at her with an angry glare, her boot print clear on his squashed face, she filled her hands with shuriken and hurled them at his ugly head. He shielded himself with the blade of the battle axe and the shuriken bounced away harmlessly, but the fact that he'd protected his face gave Amaya hope that he wasn't invincible.

A moment later a buzzing cloud of insects engulfed Abodo, eliciting an irritated roar from the giant. He staggered, flailing ineffectually at the kikai bugs swarming over him. Amaya threw a pair of kunai at him, and Abodo bellowed when one sank into his neck and another his arm. They didn't seem to slow him down much, though, and soon Amaya noticed that the bug swarm seemed to be thinning out. Activating her sharingan she saw something disturbing. The kikai bugs landing on him were being sucked into his skin, seemingly absorbed. "His body's eating your bugs," Amaya called out to her partner.

Amaya hadn't thought Abodo could get any more disgusting, but he proved her wrong with a thunderous belch that expelled a yellowish cloud of gas around his head. The kikai bugs that got too close to it dropped to the floor, and Kaede was forced to call the rest back. Amaya got just a whiff of the noxious emission and found herself coughing, her eyes watering and throat burning. _Kami that's nasty! _

"Amaya, duck!" Kaede yelled, and Amaya pressed herself to the ceiling, feeling wind on her back from the axe blade's passage through the spot her body had been occupying. When she rubbed the tears away from her eyes Amaya saw Abodo charging at Kaede. Cursing, Amaya threw a pair of tagged kunai that buried themselves to the hilts in the backs of the bandit's porky knees and then exploded. Rather than taking off Abodo's legs as Amaya had hoped, they only blew away another layer of blubber. He bellowed and staggered but didn't stop, and Kaede had to dodge a clumsy axe swing.

While the Aburame girl danced away from Abodo's telegraphed attacks, Amaya peppered him with shuriken and tried to figure out how to actually hurt the bastard. Burns, bugs, blades and blasts weren't working. The lightning jutsu she'd stolen from Soren probably would, but it didn't work underground. She tried capturing him with her eyes when he looked up at her to holler obscenities, but it didn't connect. Amaya's sharingan showed her milky growths in his eyes and she realized with frustration that he probably couldn't see well enough to actually meet her gaze.

Looking around her at the numerous stone arches holding up the high ceiling, Amaya got an idea. _Kikiyo probably won't approve of damage to her barracks, but I don't approve of damage to us!_ Sprinting along the ceiling, Amaya planted a few explosive tags on arch keystones in the center of the room and signaled Kaede, who saw what she was doing and started luring Abodo to Amaya. Once he was under the arches, frothing at the mouth and bellowing like a berserker as he swung his huge axe, Amaya and Kaede both dove for the barred entrance.

Amaya was a moment away from triggering the tags when a bolt of lightning as thick as her wrist shot through the metal grate. It hit Abodo in the chest and when it faded there was a hole burned clean through him, the smoking ruins of his incinerated heart briefly visible before life faded from his eyes and he collapsed.

"You pass," Kikiyo said lazily. "Let's try to avoid destroying the barracks, young Uchiha. Kindly retrieve your explosives undetonated?"

"Yes, commander," Amaya replied, making her way back up to the ceiling and retrieving the paper bombs. Kikiyo pulled a hidden lever, and the heavy portcullis retreated back into the ceiling.

Kikiyo's nose wrinkled a bit. "Well, now you both really need a bath. Mina here will show you to your quarters," she gestured to a pale-skinned blonde in a servant's kimono who bowed politely. "She'll also come for you this evening. You're invited to dine with the daimyo, and afterwards we'll discuss your initial assignments. It's something of a formal event, so if you didn't bring anything appropriate tailors will be by your apartment to put something together for you."

"Yes, commander," Amaya and Kaede murmured before following Mina out of the dungeon, both looking forward to cleansing themselves of Abodo's stench.

* * *

'Dining with the daimyo' turned out to be something of a misleading statement, as Amaya and Kaede were ushered into a cavernous and noisy banquet hall by Mina hours later to find themselves joining a crowd of more than two hundred dinner guests. They were shown to a table about halfway across the room from where the daimyo sat.

For the occasion Amaya wore her hair up, as seemed to be the style for women in the daimyo's court at the moment, her raven locks held in place with decorative-looking silver pins that had steel cores and could function as senbon in a pinch. When Amaya had been in the academy her grandmother had forced her to sit through endless hours of lessons on how to apply makeup, dress her hair, dine in exalted company and dress appropriately for anything from a wedding to a coronation to a contract negotiation. At the time Amaya had chafed at the 'unnecessary' distractions from 'real' training, but now she was glad she knew enough not to embarrass herself.

She wore a formal, floor-length kimono of deep blue silk, the Uchiha crest embroidered on the back in red and white. When she'd finished dressing and primping in her room and looked in the mirror, she was surprised at what she saw. Her figure was still slender and lacking in curves, but most kunoichi were late bloomers; it came with the territory. Rigorous physical training from an early age tended to delay the maturation of certain physical assets. Still, she looked older, more refined, less like the child that she had resembled even after she was legally a genin and an adult.

Kaede's curly, light brown hair wasn't going to fit into a 'fashionable' hairstyle, but she prevailed upon Mina to trim it for her, and the servant woman had done something else to it with heated iron and scented oils that added luster to Kaede's hair and made it almost defy gravity. She wore a simple but well-cut gray kimono and her unusual hair and the dark glasses that covered her eyes earned her more than a few curious glances in the banquet hall, but it was Amaya who ended up attracting most of the attention.

The reputation of Amaya's clan preceded her even in civilian circles, whereas few in the Land of Lightning who weren't shinobi had heard of the Aburame. It was rare for an Uchiha to be seen in the court of the Lightning Daimyo. Amaya heard the whispers, felt the stares, and ignored them. Amaya and Kaede shared a table with a balding, retired samurai whose remaining hair was still gathered in an iron-gray topknot and his plump, kindly wife as well as a merchant from the Land of Wind only a handful of years older than the pair of kunoichi, and a portly banker native to the capitol. Both girls were well enough schooled in polite high society conversation to hold their own, sharing what little about themselves was relevant – they were shinobi, and in the capitol to join the Royal Guard – while deflecting questions about Konohagakure and politics in the Land of Fire.

Once the meal ended Amaya and Kaede shared an amused glance at the other attendees who milled around their tablemates once they got up from their seats, no doubt seeking information about them. Others homed in on the pair of young kunoichi, but they were rescued by Kikiyo, who ushered them out of the banquet hall and into the richly appointed personal chambers of the daimyo.

Both kunoichi has spied him from a distance holding court at the head of the banquet hall, but as they dropped to one knee before him as he sat on a dais, they got their first close look at the Lightning Daimyo, Raishi. He was a bulky man in his mid-fifties, with a powerful figure beginning to go to fat as he aged. His skin was dark, and his hair was a vivid crimson peppered with gray, falling to his shoulders in spikes. He almost resembled the Raikage, though his features were softer and he lacked A's battle scars.

"Stand up, both of you," the daimyo commanded in a deep voice. Both kunoichi stood to attention. "Lovely, aren't they?" he commented to Kikiyo with a half-smile. "If I hadn't seen them fight I wouldn't suspect their strength."

"They can be effective in decorative roles, Raishi," Kikiyo agreed. Amaya noted her lack of an honorific. It was a mark of how highly the daimyo regarded her that she could address him so. "Even ordered to appear unarmed they're both still dangerous. I suspect those decorative little pins are weighted for throwing, and of course an Aburame's best weapon is inseparable from them."

Raishi looked thoughtful and then shook his head. "Maybe another time, Kikiyo. For now, we have other work for these two." His gaze turned to Kaede first. "My Royal Guard serves many functions. Foremost, of course, is ensuring the safety of myself and my family. But beyond that, the Royal Guard sees to the health of my kingdom when needed. Tell me, when you were in Sky City, did you see the forest that lies below the crater's clouds?"

"Yes, daimyo-sama," Kaede answered respectfully. "It was a beautiful sight. I'd hoped to visit it, but I did not have the chance."

"Well now you will," the daimyo said firmly. "In the last month, three members of the Kutsuku Clan who live there have disappeared in that forest. They've been unable to determine the cause, and a team from Kumogakure has been similarly frustrated. The patriarch of the Kutsuku is a close friend and has appealed for aid, so I'm sending you to investigate this matter."

Kaede considered that and then bowed her head. "I will of course do my utmost to discover the cause of these disappearances, daimyo-sama."

"Your task is only to determine the cause of these disappearances," Kikiyo added. "You're a sensor-type, and your techniques are not well known in this part of the world. If there is an enemy of the Kutsuku working against them the Raikage's team will deal with them, your need merely find them."

"I understand, commander," Kaede murmured.

"I've left copies of some files on the mission that you may find interesting in your quarters," Kikiyo concluded. "You should leave for Sky City in the morning."

"Yes, commander," Kaede replied. Sensing a dismissal, the Aburame girl bowed to the daimyo and slipped out of the room.

"Will I be accompanying Kaede, commander?" Amaya inquired.

"No, I have a different task for you, one that is very important to me," Raishi answered instead. "I would hesitate to trust this task to a stranger, but the reputation of your clan speaks for you, and I have seen your skill in battle."

"I am honored. I will not disappoint you, daimyo-sama," Amaya said, dropping to a knee again.

"What do you know of the history of my line and that of the Raikage, young Uchiha?"

Amaya considered that. "Your relationship is considered the closest of any daimyo and kage, sir."

Raishi chuckled. "Indeed. Before there was a Land of Lightning, there were two brothers who forged it from chaos, or so the legend goes. The older brother was a scholar and statesman without equal, and a fearsome strategist. It was he who united the patchwork of fiefs and city-states that had existed in this land. The younger brother was a warrior who had no peer, as strong as the mountains and as swift as an avalanche. He was his sibling's champion and strong right hand, and won many battles in the war for unification. The eldest brother was the first Lightning Daimyo, and the younger brother the first Raikage. Or so the legend goes."

"What is true is that our families are related, and members of my line sometimes possess shinobi ability. My youngest daughter is one such. She is close to your age, and a kunoichi of Kumogakure, a genin."

Amaya nodded, wondering where this was going. "Since the Chuunin Exam, two attempts have been made on my daughter's life. We believe them to be the work of separatist rebels from the north, a few mountain tribes who reject my rule. They've been a minor nuisance until recently. They've started employing some of the renegade shinobi clans who refused to join Kumogakure after unification. It is one of those missing-nin clans that have tried to kill my daughter. The second time they nearly succeeded."

"Do you wish for me to hunt these missing-nin for you, daimyo-sama?" Amaya inquired, glancing up at the daimyo.

Raishi shook his head. "A will deal with them in time. No, my immediate problem is that while my daughter is more than safe in Kumogakure, she is not untouchable while on missions. I've had a brief reprieve to find a solution while her genin team was reformed after losing another of its members, but soon she will return to active duty, and I fear the attempts on her life will continue."

The daimyo sighed. "I'd like nothing more than to bring her home so my Guard can protect her, but I promised her mother – my previous wife – on her death bed that I wouldn't stand in the way of our daughter's dream of being a ninja. So instead I'm sending you to reprise a familiar role. You will pose as a Kumogakure genin, become the third member of her team, and protect her until the source of the assassins is eliminated."

"I understand daimyo-sama. I won't fail you." _I finally make chuunin and my first mission is posing as a genin,_ Amaya reflected wryly._ I think kami is poking fun at me. Oh well, it's just a cover._

"You're well suited for this role for two reasons," Kikiyo told her. "You're still young enough to pass as a genin, and your skills make you ideal to face these missing-nin. The reason they've given Kumogakure so much trouble is that they're wind ninjutsu specialists, which gives them an advantage against Cloud ninja but will make them vulnerable to you."

"Won't the daimyo's daughter and team be suspicious of me if I use fire ninjutsu around them? I don't look like a citizen of the Land of Lightning."

Kikiyo gave her a pleasant smile. "We have a cover identity prepared for you as a descendent of immigrants from Konohagakure, and we'll fix your appearance so that you aren't recognized as an Uchiha before we send you on your way." For some reason, Amaya felt a chill run down her spine at the predatory look of amusement the guard commander gave her.

"Just to be clear, the Raikage is aware of the deception, but no one else will know, including my daughter's jounin-sensei, and I want it to stay that way. Unless my daughter's life depends on it you are not to reveal yourself as a member of my Royal Guard," Raishi declared firmly.

"That means no Uchiha eye tricks either, unless no one who sees it is going to live to tell," Kikiyo reminded her. "Report to my office in the morning and we'll see to your makeover before you leave for Kumogakure."

"Yes, commander," Amaya said. It was clear that the audience was over, so Amaya withdrew with a bow and returned to her quarters.

* * *

_Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating. Writing this chapter gave me trouble. There's some fun stuff coming up though, in Konohagakure and the Land of Lightning. Stay tuned!_


	27. Consequences

**Chapter 27: Consequences**

* * *

_One year later_

Late at night, Tenten examined the darkened window of an ordinary-looking apartment in Konohagakure before slipping some slender metal tools from her pouch and using them to disengage the lock. Carefully opening the window, she disabled both of the traps set to trigger on entry – a simple audio alarm and a spring-loaded launcher full of kunai that smelled like they were poisoned. Slipping into the apartment, Tenten closed the window behind her and made her way into the living room, avoiding the floorboards that were designed to make a rather distinctive creak when stepped on. Sitting down on the couch in that living room, she waited.

Tenten didn't have to wait for long. Less than ten minutes later she felt a masterfully subtle trickle of chakra wending its way into her mind. "That's not necessary, Kurenai," Tenten said quietly. "I didn't come to fight."

"Then you shouldn't have broken into my home," said a source less whisper that filled the room. Tenten felt the tip of a kunai against the back of her neck. In the mirror above the fireplace she could see Yuuhi Kurenai standing behind her wrapped in a robe, blade steady in her hand.

"You've been trying to contact us for the last three months, and now you're upset that we've responded?" Tenten asked curiously.

She heard a gasp behind her and then Kurenai turned on a lamp beside the couch. In the sudden light Tenten felt the kunai withdraw from her neck. With the illumination Kurenai would have seen the thin sheath of flexible stone coating Tenten's skin on her neck, a defense that a simple kunai wouldn't penetrate. Tenten hadn't anticipated a lethal response from Kurenai, but caution never hurt.

"You're one of them? You're Akatsuki?" Kurenai breathed, stepping around the couch, grip still firm on her weapon.

"I am," Tenten replied calmly. Wearing her full Akatsuki garb inside Konohagakure was a nervous experience, but for this meeting it was necessary. Tenten wore her black cloak with red clouds draped around her and the unadorned white mask Tobi had given her on her face. Tenten wore her hair in a braid instead of its buns; Kurenai would recognize her usual hairstyle. A simple jutsu to change the pitch of her voice had been applied before she arrived. While she still preferred to carry her large sealing scroll on her back when she was operating openly, she'd adapted to dispersing her storage seals across a number of smaller scrolls hidden under her cloak when wearing her Akatsuki 'uniform'.

"Prove it," Kurenai insisted.

Tenten gestured to her garb, and held up the finger bearing her ring. "My presence here is proof. Believe me, if Orochimaru or Danzo knew you were trying to contact us they wouldn't bother with this charade; they'd just arrest you. You wanted to talk, I'm here to talk." Tenten tilted her head. "But I can wait until you get back."

"What?" Kurenai sounded puzzled.

"I'm impressed that you can maintain a genjutsu from this distance. Taking your son to your neighbor wasn't necessary, but your caution is admirable. I can wait until you get back."

Kurenai's lips quirked, and then the image standing in front of Tenten wavered and vanished. A minute later the apartment's door opened and closed, and the real Kurenai entered, taking a seat across from Tenten. "You saw through my genjutsu? I guess you are the real thing. So who are you?"

"Call me Naegi," Tenten replied.

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "'Sapling'? That's not your real name." Kurenai blinked, and Tenten could see the calculations in the older woman's swirling red eyes. "The mask's not just an affectation; you're not a missing-nin, are you?"

"You won't find me in a Bingo Book, no," Tenten replied. _Not the legal ones, anyways,_ she amended mentally. The Uchiha had raised the price on her head in the White Bingo Book twice in the last year. The only time she was able to sleep soundly was in Neji's bed; proximity to him was her sole refuge from the assassins who came after her whenever she left his side. None of them came close to killing her because they still believed her to be far weaker than she was, but it was still irritating, and a better class of killer was starting to target her in recent months.

"So what do you want?" Kurenai asked.

Tenten shrugged. "You've been trying to contact us. What do _you_ want?"

"I want my son to grow up in the kind of village my parents had, not the one I experienced," Kurenai replied evenly. The two year old boy had been born out of wedlock, and Kurenai remained single. Village gossip held that the father was Sarutobi Asuma, though nothing had been confirmed. If true, it would be something of a scandal, as Asuma had already been married for three years at the time to a nobleman's daughter from the Land of Water, a political match that neither relished. Regardless, Kurenai had never spoken of her son's parentage and raised him alone.

Tenten was surprised by how similar Kurenai's sentiment sounded to her own feelings about her nieces and nephews. "What are you prepared to do to make that future a reality?"

"I won't risk being discovered any more than I have to; my son's safety is my main concern," Kurenai answered honestly. "I'd prefer not to have to kill other Leaf ninja, but you Akatsuki aren't just after the Hokage; you're picking fights with everyone."

"What makes you say that?" Tenten inquired.

"I hear things. The attack on the Kazekage a few years ago, the Nibi's disappearance last year, and what happened to that steam-powered monster from Iwagakure a few months ago; you're not just targeting the kages, you're after the jinchuuriki. It's what caught my attention, actually."

Tenten leaned back in her seat, impressed that Kurenai had put that all together. From Neji she knew that the kages were getting suspicious, but for a regular kunoichi to figure it out was remarkable. The fight between Kakuzu and Han, jinchuuriki of the Five Tails had leveled a small mountain in the Land of Earth, but in the end Han had fallen and his bijuu had joined the Nibi inside the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Two of the five kages – Gaara and Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage – were jinchuuriki themselves, so they were aware that they were in the crosshairs.

"It should be easy enough for us to find work for you outside of the village if that's what you'd prefer," Tenten said. "But first there's a job that you and I are going to do, tonight, here in Konohagakure."

Kurenai's eyes narrowed. "Some kind of test, I assume?"

"Essentially; it should help both of us establish a little trust." Tenten leaned forward. "You're a jounin and well-informed, so I don't have to tell you what Root is."

Kurenai's red eyes turned flinty. "Shimura Danzo's attack dogs, the ones that don't officially exist? I've heard of them."

"You may or may not be aware that Root acts as the Hokage's 'secret police'. They're behind most of the disappearances in the village." Kurenai nodded. "Tonight we're going to destroy one of their bases in the Kyuubi slums." The area hardest-hit by the Kyuubi's attack had never been fully rebuilt, and many of Konohagakure's poorest residents made their homes there in run-down shacks built from ruined structures.

"Just the two of us? Are you sure you're not being a bit unsporting about this?" Kurenai inquired sarcastically.

"Another member of the Akatsuki will be joining us when we get there," Tenten assured her. "Can your son stay with your neighbor a while longer?" Kurenai nodded. "Then get your gear and let's go."

Making their way across town didn't take long, even with the need to avoid the ANBU patrols and the sharp-eyed Uchiha-lead police force. Once they reached the slums where the police didn't patrol and the ANBU rarely visited, the going was easier. Tenten and Kurenai paused on a rooftop overlooking the ruins of a large warehouse, hiding in the shadows and watching the half-destroyed building. "I can see their lookouts," Kurenai murmured.

"Most of their force is underground. There should be about twenty of them altogether."

"Twenty? I hope your friend is pretty strong. Are they getting here soon?"

"He is strong, and so am I. As for his arrival…" Tenten retrieved a red scroll embossed in gold from a hidden pocket in her cloak. Sasori had hand-delivered it to her during her last mission out of the village, and she unrolled it carefully, laying it on the ground.

Kurenai whistled quietly at the complexity and artistic calligraphy of the seal that was revealed. "That's S-class work. What is it?"

"Our backup," Tenten replied with a grin before placing her hand on the edge of the seal and channeling her chakra into the array. She stepped back when a cloud of white smoke billowed up from it. When the haze cleared a massive figure towered over Tenten and Kurenai. It was humanoid in shape but couldn't truly be called a man. Its massive torso was half pasty white flesh and half metal, its shoulders sprouting six arms and its head sporting three faces around its circumference, each one studded with half a dozen metal rods plunging into the skull. It wore loose blue trousers and white leather boots. It was bare from the waist up, and as the two kunoichi watched the band of metal around its stomach flexed and _uncoiled_ revealing a prehensile saw blade that waved silently in the air.

"Is that a man or a puppet?" Kurenai exclaimed.

"Both_. _Welcome, Asura-sama," Tenten said. The massive warrior, who was just a piece of the power that the Leader of the Akatsuki commanded, nodded silently to Tenten.

At that moment a trio of Root shinobi alerted by the smoke and chakra spike joined them on the rooftop and attacked silently and without warning. Moonlight flashed off of the Asura Path's saw blade as it snaked through the air, decapitating one and bisecting another. The third got close enough to strike with his tanto, a blow that snapped the sword's blade when it met the metal beneath Asura's flesh. Three of Asura's six arms grabbed the luckless Root ninja by different parts of his body before tearing him apart in an instant display of monstrous strength.

All three deaths occurred in less than a second, and Kurenai looked faintly sick as the now blood-spattered Asura Path dropped the bloody chunks of the dismembered Root shinobi. "Well, they know we're here now," Tenten declared. She formed a shadow clone that darted off to place several seals around the Root base; she intended to be sure that none of Orochimaru's enforcers escaped alive. Their bodies would be the only message that the Hokage would receive.

Still silent, the Asura Path leapt from the rooftop to the ruined warehouse below, Tenten and Kurenai following close behind.

Ten minutes later the fighting was over. Tenten or the Asura Path could have cleared out the base by themselves; the Root shinobi there was competent, but not Danzo's elite. That wasn't the point, however. Making sure Kurenai was willing to get her hands dirty was, and to the older jounin's credit, her reluctance to face Leaf ninja didn't seem to extend to root. Half a dozen of them fell to her illusions, turning their weapons on each other while Asura and Tenten tore through the rest.

"I shouldn't feel as good about this as I do," Kurenai murmured as they set the place on fire and left.

"They deserved it, Kurenai. You saw what they were doing down there." Most of the prisoners Root had been keeping were dead, and the few alive were so far gone that death was the only mercy Tenten could give them. Cold anger burned inside her at the evidence of Orochimaru's misrule. Most of the prisoners had been foreigners, but not all.

Tenten left Kurenai with instructions on how to leave messages for her and information to look out for before they parted ways in the night.

* * *

A deep, bestial roar echoed through a valley in the south of the Land of Earth. Its source was a monstrous, four-tailed crimson-furred ape bigger than a house that was charging down the valley, pursuing a trio of relatively miniscule airborne opponents.

Sira banked sharply in midair to avoid the glowing ball of magma that shot past, intense heat washing over her even as she dodged. She felt Zetsu's silent complaint and offered a mental apology as she twirled in midair to face the raging Yonbi.

Sira's Zetsu had grown and evolved with her in the last year. A wide pair of bat-like wings now sprouted from its back, and a low-level wind jutsu provided enough lift that Sira and Zetsu could fly with ease, at least while their chakra lasted. The wings were good for other things too, as Sira proved as she sliced down with them, spawning half a dozen broad blades of wind that pelted Son Goku, slicing into the bijuu's furred hide where they struck. Then she was soaring away, weaving through a barrage of magma bullets from the transformed jinchuuriki's mouth.

Her solid black cloak that fluttered around her in the wind was heat-resistant, at least, though it didn't protect the wings emerging from slits in the back. The metal plate of Sira's hitai-ate, the Sunagakure symbol bisected by a horizontal line she'd carved with her kunai, was hot against her brow.

Sira glimpsed another winged form drop from the clouds behind the Four Tails. Poe, wearing a black cloak and scored hitai-ate like her, was held aloft by the glider puppet Dragonfly affixed to his back. He dove at the transformed jinchuuriki and peppered him with kunai fired from mechanical launchers fixed on his arms. The tagged blades penetrated deeply into his hide and then detonated, opening bleeding wounds. Poe had to break off as the massive ape turned on him and tried to swat him out of the sky.

Its yellow eyes burning with rage Son Goku lashed his tails around, the red-furred appendages suddenly sheathed in glowing magma as it hurled a vast wave of molten rock into the air at Sira and Poe. The attack was too large for the pair to dodge, but before it hit them a massive wind blast that dwarfed any of Sira's sliced into the magma wave, parting it so it missed them and then continuing on to rock back Son Goku on his heels. Sira glimpsed a flash of blonde hair and hard teal eyes above another black cloak sweeping past her.

"Fall back, both of you," Sabaku no Temari yelled, sitting on the open blade of her giant metal fan as it was borne aloft by her wind chakra. "He's almost in position!" Most of the valley was already in flames from the magma produced by Son Goku's reckless attacks, and the thermals produced by the roaring fire allowed them to gain altitude easily.

The three Sand ninja fled further up the valley, and the enraged bijuu gave chase once more. Soon they neared the vast stone dam that formed one end of the valley and restrained the lake beyond. When they got close Sira could see their squad's leader, a massive blue-skinned man wearing a black cloak with red clouds, his sword Samehada already in hand and free of its bandages.

Sira waved with a cheeky grin as she swooped past. "Good luck, Kisame-sama!" she called out.

Hoshigaki Kisame revealed a sharp-toothed smile in response. Raising Samehada above his head, he spun it in one hand until it blurred as Son Goku approached, wreathed in flame and magma. Sea blue chakra enveloped Kisame in a glowing aura and he brought Samehada down, plunging it tip-first into the stones of the dam and burying it to half its length before bellowing, "Suiton: Tsunami!"

The roar when the dam broke and billions of liters of water poured down the valley drowned out the voice of Son Goku. Kisame rode the crest of the wave, and a dozen dragons formed of water shot from beneath his feet, slamming into the Four Tails and tearing at him. Massive though he was, the bijuu was swept off of his feet and washed down the valley by the torrent, with Kisame flitting through the water as nimbly as a shark and shaving off fur, hide and chakra with Samehada.

When the torrent had spent itself, Sira, Poe and Temari cautiously flew down to the far end of the now-soaked valley to see what had happened. They met Kisame walking calmly back up a muddy path. Samehada was slung over his shoulder and the comatose form of Roshi, jinchuuriki of the Four Tails, was hanging off of the sword's broad tip.

"That was incredible, Kisame-sama!" Sira said as she landed, her wings folding away into Zetsu's back.

"This butcher made it possible," Kisame said grimly, glancing over his shoulder at Roshi. "If he hadn't already killed everyone in this valley, I would have had to be a lot more careful."

Sira winced, nodding soberly. They'd come as fast as they could when Black Zetsu brought word that Son Goku was on the rampage again, but the village in the valley was already a smoldering graveyard when they arrived. They'd been able to lure him into Kisame's trap at least, and no one else in the Land of Earth would ever have to suffer at the hand of Iwagakure's notoriously unstable weapon.

Temari and Poe joined them on the ground and they headed east for the Akatsuki base, travelling well into the night without stopping to outdistance the Rock ninja who would be hunting for them.

Sira missed Rahl's company; she'd been teamed with him since they left the academy, and their squad wasn't complete without him. After taking Sira and Poe as his apprentices, Sasori had agreed to release Rahl when it became clear that the bandaged genin had no intention of joining his former squad mates. Sasori had modified Rahl's memories before releasing him inside the Land of Wind's borders; Rahl believed Sira, Poe and Temari to be dead, and Sira worried that they would one day face him on the battlefield.

Temari-sensei wasn't the same either. There wasn't any warmth in her relationship with Sira and Poe anymore; she viewed them as traitors and made no secret of it. They'd joined the Akatsuki willingly while Temari fought with them only under blackmail and mental duress. She worked with them and protected them; Sasori's compulsion forced her to, and her son Katori remained behind when they left the base. She kept her rebellion beneath the surface and in return Sasori hadn't forced her into battle against Sand ninja, deploying all three of them into Iwagakure to support Akatsuki operations there.

Sira glanced at Poe with a faint smile. He had gotten taller and leaner in the last year, losing some of his baby fat. Instead of carrying a single puppet on his back he now wore a wooden frame that kept three scrolls within easy reach, each holding one of his puppets: the airborne puppet Dragonfly, the reptilian defensive puppet Salamander, and a heavily modified humanoid Crow for infiltration and attack. He no longer had trouble keeping up the pace when they ran, Sasori's workouts having improved his speed and stamina significantly.

Sira was glad that at least one person from her old life followed her into her new one. Out from under Rahl's shadow Poe had become more self-confident and willing to express himself. Having him around made everything else bearable. Sira regretted every day that her parents thought she was dead, knowing the pain it would cause them, but she liked to think that they'd understand her choice. The Akatsuki was the only place she could be whole, and she believed in their cause.

* * *

Neji had piqued Tenten's curiosity with his invitation to a night out. He'd been infuriatingly secretive about the details of what he had planned, asking her only to dress for a formal evening. She'd picked out a floor-length sleeveless dress of red silk embroidered with golden dragons and cranes, and foregone her usual simple buns for a more elaborate hair style, using a pair of silver and jade clips Neji had given her as a gift to guide her brown hair away from the sides of her face, and delicate silver wire that wrapped her hair up into a flowing tail that fell over one shoulder. After applying some understated makeup she was ready, and Neji arrived soon after. When she emerged from the lobby of her apartment building she was surprised to be picked up in an ornate carriage drawn by white horses.

"Kami Neji, what's the occasion," Tenten had to ask once they were seated inside and rolling down the street towards Konohagakure's most exclusive commercial district. Neji looked both handsome and delicious in his elegant, flowing white finery, a gold clasp replacing the usual cord restraining his long, dark hair.

Neji had evaded the question, so Tenten was stunned when the carriage pulled up outside of the Ruby Palace, Konohagakure's most famous restaurant. It was set on the top floor of the building it occupied, and the dining room had a marvelous and unobstructed view of the Hokage Monument.

When they were shown inside, the polite and efficient wait staff showed them to their table, which wasn't in the main dining room but on a private balcony outside. It was a starry, warm spring night, and a glass door and windows separated them from the other diners.

Giving up on wringing an answer out of Neji and resolving to get him back for his secrecy later, Tenten was more than happy to just enjoy the exquisite location as her mind tumbled through possibilities. _I know I'm not forgetting a birthday or anniversary. I guess it could just be something clan-related that he wants to celebrate, but this is a little extravagant even for that._ Neji was a thoughtful boyfriend, but big gestures like this were rare.

It was over the appetizers that the answer hit Tenten. _Nice restaurant, no special occasion… public setting, but slightly set away from others… _they could see into the dining room and could be seen from inside, but couldn't be heard. _H__e's going to break up with me!_ It was the only answer she could think of, and she kicked herself for not seeing it sooner. Over the last year as Neji settled into his role as the Hyuuga clan's leader, the pressure from the elders to pick a wife from the list of eligible young noblewomen they'd presented to him had grown more and more urgent. He rarely talked about it, but she had overheard some of the arguments, and she could see it weighing on him.

Tenten was torn between relief and dismay. She felt relief because spying on Neji and living the beautiful lie they had together had only grown more excruciating as she'd fallen back in love with him. Her heart ached at the thought of losing him, but she'd always known it would happen, and neither Sasori nor the Leader could say she hadn't done her best with the assignment. The hunt for Iwagakure's jinchuuriki wouldn't have been possible without information she'd gotten from him about coordinated troop movements between Rock and Leaf.

She also felt a note of dismay because once Neji was distanced from her it would be open season on Tenten for the assassins pursuing her White Bingo Book bounty, inside Konohagakure as well as on missions. _Maybe Itachi knows something about the Uchiha embarrassing enough that I can use it to get them off my back?_ It was risky, but so was killing one missing-nin after another trying to take her head.

Musing over those thoughts while they dined on the main course, Tenten missed Neji's question the first time he asked it. "Tenten?" he inquired and she looked up with a start.

"Oh, I'm sorry Neji, what did you say?" she apologized.

"I asked if the quail was well prepared," he repeated.

Tenten glanced down at the skeleton of one tiny bird she'd already consumed and the other that she was working through. "It's exquisite," she reassured him. "When are you going to tell me what this is all about?"

Neji cleared his throat, looking suddenly nervous, and Tenten steeled herself. "There's something I wanted to say… that I have to ask you," he said, stumbling over the words. Reaching across the table, he took her hand on both of his, their eyes meeting.

"Tenten, will you marry me?"

Tenten froze. She'd been rendered absolutely speechless only a few times in her life, but that did it. Her jaw moved a few times but failed to form words as the evening's conjecture and suppositions came crashing down around her ears.

"But… I… your clan?" Tenten finally managed to say.

"The elders have already given their blessing," he said seriously, although a glint in his eyes hinted at his amusement at her loss of composure.

"How?" she demanded. Six years they'd been together, and since the first time he asked her out the one unalterable fact of their relationship had been that he'd never be allowed to marry her.

"A carrot and a stick," Neji replied with a faint smile. "For the carrot, I pointed out to them the difference between my father's progeny and my uncle's. My uncle Hiashi was the heir, so he was married off to a noble's daughter, and the clan got Hinata and Hanabi. My father Hizashi was branch, and he married who he chose; my mother, a kunoichi of Konohagakure. From that union the clan got me."

Tenten raised an eyebrow as she processed that statement. "So they'll let you marry me because I'm better breeding stock than a noble's daughter?"

"To put it crudely, yes; that's what they care about. It's not what I care about, though. I love you, Tenten; you're the most beautiful and desirable woman I know, the most perfect partner I can imagine, and my best friend. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and yes, I couldn't imagine anyone else being the mother of my children."

Tenten couldn't manage to be irritated at the demeaning line of bull he'd fed his relatives when he said something like that and made her insides all gooey and melty. "And the stick?"

His eyes took on a harder cast. "I'm not the only member of the main branch that the elders are keen to marry off, and I reminded them that I can make it very difficult for them to pick the matches they want for Hinata and Hanabi if they deny me this." Tenten was surprised for a moment that Neji would do something that ruthless, and that he'd done it for her. "So will you make me the happiest man in the Land of Fire and be my wife, Tenten?"

Once Tenten understood the seriousness of the offer, the broader implications of it hit her. _Shit. Shit, shit, shit._ Her orders from Sasori and the Leader hadn't covered anything like this; they hadn't anticipated the possibility. Tenten's first thought was that marrying Neji was a terrible idea, one that would eventually hurt both of them. Their present, casual relationship built on a lie was bad enough, but a _marriage_ built on that same foundation? That might destroy Neji if it came to light, and if she committed a betrayal like that Tenten wasn't sure it wouldn't destroy her, too.

The only plus would be that if she married Neji the Uchiha would have to call off their dogs. A contract on the Hyuuga head's girlfriend is one thing; sending assassins after his wife was completely different. They won't be able to touch her. But Tenten rejected that selfish thought. It wasn't reason enough.

Tenten decided that she had no orders to carry her deception as far as marriage, and she couldn't in good conscience do something so terrible to Neji. She was about to say no and deal with the consequences when she saw, from the corner of her eye, a couple inside the restaurant leaving their table. It was the Hokage and his wife, and as Orochimaru slipped Anko's coat over her shoulders, another implication of marrying Neji hit her like an exploding kunai: the Inner Council's 'Mitarashi rule'.

That wasn't the official name of the rule Orochimaru had added to his Inner Council's bylaws more than a decade earlier, but it was the name it was known by. When Anko had first started attending meetings of the Inner Council at his side, some of its other members – Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu in particular – had objected to the relatively young kunoichi's presence. Orochimaru had responded by amending the Inner Council's bylaws to state that spouses of sitting members could not be denied attendance to the council's meetings. They didn't have a vote, but they could sit in on the gatherings. It was a bit of sophistry, because at the time Anko was the only one it applied to; Danzo, Homura, Koharu and Hiashi had all outlived their spouses and Fugaku's wife Mikoto had zero interest in politics, leaving all such matters to her husband. _But if I marry Neji, I won't have to tease bits of information out of him anymore and hear only what he considers relevant,_ Tenten realized. _I can sit in every meeting of the Inner Council; I'll hear everything that old snake does._

The implications of that were massive, and if the Leader was standing next to her, she knew in her heart he would order her to accept the proposal. But he and Sasori weren't there. She could say no and honestly report that she hadn't been given orders to cover the contingency. In an instant Tenten couldn't breathe, and the irony of the situation was not lost on her. _I've resented Sasori ever since he gave me the mission to seduce Neji, but now I have to choose whether or not to damn myself further, and I can't even blame Sasori; this choice is all on me._

Even as she mulled over that bitter truth, Tenten knew what her answer would be. She'd already taken so many lives for the cause of the Akatsuki, and she would shed more blood before Konohagakure was free. Beside all of that, beside the goal they were fighting for, what were two more broken hearts and broken lives? The information she could access as Neji's wife would greatly accelerate the plans of the Akatsuki, and her duty was clear.

Tenten forced a happy, radiant smile. "Yes, Neji; of course I will marry you." The words were ashes in her mouth, and the joy on Neji's face hurt worse than any of Kakuzu's tortures.

Still holding onto her hand, Neji slipped an exquisitely carved golden band set with a large diamond and a pair of rubies onto her ring finger, and to Tenten it was impossibly heavy; the weight of her own damnation.

A moment later both Tenten and Neji were startled to hear cheering coming from inside the restaurant. When they looked up in surprise, it was to see half of the restaurant's patrons on their feet, applauding; leading the cheering were a mass of their friends, grinning and waving from the other side of the balcony's windows. Rock Lee was there in his usual green and orange and Choji was next to him along with Kiba, who was ignoring the waiter trying to get him and the barking Akamaru to leave. Hinata was there, a radiant smile on her face. Shino was lurking behind them, while Sakura was at the bar, her scars and shaved head making the bartender visibly uncomfortable, raising a glass to them. Even Shimakaru was present, directing a lazy wave at Tenten. In the middle of all of them, wearing a stunning purple dress and smirking was…

"Ino…" Tenten and Neji both growled at the same time, causing the lovely blonde to start laughing at their identical looks of irritation and chagrin.

"This wasn't part of your plan?" Tenten guessed, and Neji nodded.

"If I find out she read my mind to put this together, I'll…" Neji trailed off when the gang of their peers poured out the door. Then everyone was congratulating them, the guys were clustering around Neji, and Ino, Sakura and Hinata were admiring Tenten's ring.

"This is so amazing, Tenten," Hinata exclaimed, wrapping her in an exuberant hug. "Soon we'll be sisters!"

"Just think, Tenten; eight years ago, who would have guessed that you'd be the first of the four of us to make it to the altar?" Ino said with a cheeky grin before bowing respectfully, "and what a catch! I guess we'll have to call you Lady Hyuuga soon."

"I'm happy for you, Tenten," Sakura said firmly. "No one deserves this more than you." Looking at her scarred fellow kunoichi, Tenten couldn't help but be reminded that eight years ago Sakura had still been dreaming of marrying Sasuke. Life had left her older, wiser and more scarred.

"Thank you, Sakura," Tenten replied seriously. Then she was swept up in a tearful – and bruising – hug by Rock Lee. Shino of all people ducked into the restaurant, returning with a waiter bearing glasses of sparkling wine (and sparkling cider for Lee) so they could toast the newly engaged couple. Tenten forced herself to smile and laugh and not think about what Neji's happy and bemused face would look like if he ever learned the truth about her. _I am the worst person ever, _Tenten decided in the privacy of her own mind.

* * *

_Author's Note: Yay! I've been looking forward to this for a while. More fun to come._

_I've decided after some reflection to refrain from going into more narrative detail about Amaya and Kaede's adventures in the Land of Lightning. They'll be scarce as the next several chapters skip forward in time, focusing on Tenten and the Akatsuki._


	28. Temptation

**Chapter 28: Temptation**

* * *

_Author's Note: Sorry for the long time for this update, I had to put this chapter aside for a while because I couldn't come up with a conclusion that I liked until this weekend. Let me know if I managed to avoid making a mess of it._

_Anyone who's made it this far knows that I tend to leave sex to the imagination rather than describe it in much detail. I've made somewhat of an exception to that trend in this chapter, because I think a bit of detail is pertinent. It will comprise a small part of the chapter at the end._

* * *

A day after accepting Neji's proposal, Tenten was seriously considering running for the hills. It hadn't fully dawned on her that the marriage of a leader of the Hyuuga clan was every bit as prominent an event as the burial of one.

Konohagakure was called a 'Hidden Village', but it was a city in truth. It didn't have the population of the Land of Fire's capital, but it was home to roughly ten thousand shinobi and more than two hundred thousand civilians. Most shinobi who reached the rank of jounin were at least recognizable to most of their peers, but beyond recognizing the hitai-ate and the traits of certain prominent clans, the civilians tended not to know who individual shinobi were, save for the handful like the Hokage and his son or Hatake Kakashi who had achieved a certain level of recognition through deed or exalted birth.

Overnight Tenten found herself catapulted from relative anonymity into village-wide fame. Some enterprising diner at the Ruby Palace with a camera on hand had snapped a picture of Tenten and Neji standing hand in hand on the balcony, and the next day it was on the front page of the village's newspaper underneath the glaring headline 'HYUUGA CLAN LEADER TO MARRY KUNOICHI PARAMOUR'. No sooner had Tenten made it home the next morning after spending the night with Neji than Ino had showed up at her door to personally deliver a copy of the paper. The Yamanaka heir had hurt herself laughing at the horrified look on Tenten's face.

There had been _reporters_ hounding her when she emerged to go to work and it had taken a shunshin to escape the interview requests. Complete strangers stopped her on the streets dozens of times between her home and the Hokage tower, commenting on the news and offering congratulations and best wishes. She'd eventually had to take to the rooftops to get anywhere.

When Tenten walked into the missions hall Iruka and the other shinobi manning the desks had risen to their feet and burst into applause and cheering, joined by the shinobi there picking up work. She'd had to endure more congratulations and well-wishes, her face red and half-hoping the floor would swallow her up. Tenten had never considered herself a shy person, but this level of attention was unnerving.

"Please tell me that there's a mission outside the village available," Tenten pleaded when she made it to Iruka's desk.

The scarred chuunin laughed and shook his head. "Sorry Tenten. Mitarashi-sama told me to send you up to her if you showed up today." Tenten was turning to go when Iruka held out some folded ryo notes. "Can you give these to her?" When she gave him a confused look he elaborated. "She won a bet; I don't want her to think I forgot."

Bemused, Tenten headed up to the Hokage's suite. Orochimaru wasn't there, but the secretary sent her right in. Anko was sitting in the Hokage's chair with her feet up on the desk, munching on some dango. When she saw Tenten she grinned. "Ha! I knew you'd come in today. Did Iruka pay up?"

Tenten handed over the money, expression irritated. "Your bet was over whether I'd come to work today?"

Anko stuffed the bills in her coat pocket and nodded. "There's a pool on when you'll submit your resignation, too," the purple-haired woman added cheerfully. "I could be convinced to cut you in if you let me know when that'll be."

Tenten blinked.

Anko sighed, setting her feet on the floor and leaning forward. "I guess it hasn't sunk in for you yet. You're marrying into the nobility, Tenten. Clan leaders don't go off on missions. Neji resigned from ANBU when he took over Hiashi's duties, and you'll have to retire from active duty before you tie the knot."

"But…" she trailed off. She was going to protest that plenty of clan heads were still active, but she realized that while clan heads like Yamanaka Inoichi and Nara Shikaku still contributed to the village, their duties rarely took them outside its walls. "I see."

"As one kunoichi who married above her station to another, can I give you some advice?" Tenten nodded. "Take some time off. Spend time with your fiancée. Go plan your wedding. Think about what you want to do beyond the duties that come with being Neji's wife. When I married Orochimaru I decided to devote myself to helping him be Hokage. You can decide what you'd like to pursue at your leisure. Going off of active duty doesn't mean you can't be a shinobi anymore. You're a hell of a teacher, Tenten; you might consider continuing to mentor promising young students in a less formal capacity than a jounin-sensei. Oh, one more thing," Anko picked up the copy of the day's newspaper that was on her desk. "Have you read this?"

Tenten winced, shaking her head. "Read it," Anko commanded, tossing the paper to her.

Tenten skimmed over it, her frown growing as she did so. "Most of this isn't true," she complained. Some of the broad ideas were correct, but it was filled with guesses about how the match between her and Neji had come about, most of them off the mark.

Anko shrugged. "Even good journalists succumb to speculation when they can't get the facts they want. We've been fielding requests for information about you all morning from various media outlets. We can't give them a lot they don't already know because most of your mission history is still classified. I'm surprised the reporters didn't chase you down on your way here."

"They tried," Tenten growled. "I'm faster than they are."

Anko laughed, shaking her head. "Don't run away from reporters, Tenten. It makes them think you have something to hide, and some of the bigger news outlets employ ex-shinobi to investigate people they're interested in. You're better off giving them what they want."

Tenten's eyes narrowed at the thought of more scrutiny into her personal life. "How do I do that?"

Anko slid some forms across the desk. "First you fill those out and resign from active duty this morning. After that you go have lunch with Morino Ibiki and go over what you can and can't talk about to the press about your career. Then you find a journalist you can trust and sit down for an interview. Get your side of the story out there before the rumors gain any more credence."

Tenten sighed, looking at the papers reluctantly. Anko was right, but she'd been a shinobi since she was twelve, and retiring at twenty-one seemed premature, even if she wasn't really giving up the life, just official missions. She started writing, but paused. "I don't know any journalists," she confessed.

"Visit to the Hyuuga clan's press office. They'll find someone respected who'll put a positive spin on the whole thing."

"The Hyuuga clan has a press office?"

"All noble houses do, and the Hyuuga are titled nobles of the Land of Fire as well as a shinobi clan. Talk to them. Like it or not, dealing with reporters is going to be part of your life now."

Tenten groaned, burying her face in her hands. "What have I gotten myself into?"

* * *

Anko's advice was helpful, and after submitting her resignation from active duty Tenten met with Ibiki. He advised her to couch most of her missions as a chuunin and jounin in generalities and avoid talking about assassinations entirely. "Focus on your role as a jounin sensei," was his advice. "None of that is classified, and they'll eat it up after the notoriety your last team earned."

Once Tenten parted ways with Ibiki, her next stop was the hospital. She knew Kabuto's schedule fairly well by now, so she caught the silver-haired medic in his office, closing the door behind her and activating a privacy jutsu.

"I thought I'd see you soon," Kabuto noted, glancing at the newspaper on his desk. "Are congratulations in order?"

"Please don't," Tenten growled. "I've had enough of those for a lifetime."

"Condolences, then," he observed laconically. He pushed up his glasses on his nose and looked at her intently. "Sasori-sama might be right behind the Hyuuga in professing his undying love when he finds out what you've pulled off. A seat on the Inner Council, Tenten! This is a coup. How did you convince Neji to challenge his clan elders and break centuries of tradition?"

Tenten sagged into the chair beside his desk. "I didn't," she admitted. "He did this all on his own."

"Yet you don't seem particularly happy about it."

Tenten tilted her head back, staring at the ceiling. "I don't really want to talk about it right now. Can you get these to Sasori?" She held out a pair of letters.

"Of course," Kabuto said reassuringly, taking the letters in hand. He noted that one was addressed to Sasori, and the other to Deidara.

Tenten rubbed her face, her body language showing her weariness for a moment before she rose to her feet. "I need to go; there's so much to do."

"Good luck," Kabuto said in parting.

* * *

Once Tenten was gone, Kabuto locked the door of his office and lay down on the cot in the corner where he slept when he was on-call. Letting his eyes drift shut and his muscles go slack, he used his chakra to touch certain points in a mental fuuinjutsu seal buried deep in his mind.

_Sasori-sama,_ he sent the thought gently through the seal, and then waited. Several minutes passed before he felt foreign chakra trickle back through the seal.

_**Report, Kabuto,**_ Sasori commanded.

The medic-nin carefully opened his eyes and looked at the newspaper, knowing Sasori would share his visual field. _There's been an unexpected development in Tenten's mission._

_**Marriage? What is she doing?**_ Sasori's thought drifted back, incredulous.

_Furthering the mission, Sasori-sama,_ Kabuto assured his master. _A peculiarity of Konohagakure's law is that the spouses of Inner Council members are permitted to join them in any meeting of that body, regardless of security classification. Once she is Lady Hyuuga, Tenten will know everything that happens in those meetings, not just what she wheedles out of her bedmate._

Sasori grasped the implications of that immediately. _**Have you spoken to her yet?**_

_ She just left. I have some letters she wanted delivered to you and Deidara-sama. I'll send them by the usual means._ He had access to the hospital's mail room, so adding a few more letters to an outgoing bundle that had already been checked by ANBU was child's play.

_**That will take too long. Read them,**_ Sasori commanded. With a mental shrug Kabuto broke the seal on the one to Sasori and let his master read it through his eyes. It was short and to the point, explaining what she'd done and why. _**Now the other one.**_

Kabuto hesitated. Without permission from Deidara or Tenten, that was dangerously close to a breach of trust. He wasn't blind to how Tenten felt about the blond bomber, and how much anguish her mission had caused her. _I could slip out of the village tonight and pass it to a Zetsu,_ Kabuto suggested.

_**I'll pass Tenten's words along to Deidara,**_Sasori reassured Kabuto._**I doubt he'll want to wait for its contents.**_

It still didn't feel right to Kabuto, but his habits of obedience to his master were deeply ingrained, so he opened the second letter with a sigh. He felt guilty almost immediately; the letter was as personal and heartfelt as he'd feared, and from where he lay holding it up to the light he could see spots on the paper where tears had fallen and dried while Tenten was writing it. She went into more detail about why she'd made the decision.

The last paragraph haunted Kabuto: "This choice is a blade in my heart. If you and I were all that mattered I would leave Konohagakure and never look back, but my people and yours deserve better than what they have, and we're the only ones who can fix what's gone wrong. I cannot do anything else and be true to what the Akatsuki have already killed and sacrificed for. You cannot know how sorry I am for how I've hurt you. I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I ask for your understanding.

Love, Tenten."

_**You've done well, Kabuto,**_ Sasori's thought echoed in his mind after a long silence. _**Burn both letters. I'll tell Deidara what he needs to know.**_ Kabuto hesitated, the wording of that statement worrying him. Reluctantly he obeyed, channeling fire chakra to his fingertips, incinerating the papers in an instant.

The connection to Sasori faded, and Kabuto was left with the unsettling feeling that he'd done something wrong, but without a clue as to how he could have handled it differently short of refusing Sasori-sama's orders. _I'll have to trust in Sasori-sama. What else can I do?_

* * *

Sasori broke the link to Kabuto and threw on his Akatsuki cloak, leaving his apartments immediately. His first destination was the Leader's quarters deep in the base beneath the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. After talking to the leader, Sasori left the base entirely, heading for a canyon east of the hidden facility.

Sasori knew he was in the right place when he heard a series of explosions from the dry canyon, and saw Deidara sweep past in the sky astride one of his clay birds, clouds of dust rising into the air in his wake. The dry canyon bed had once held a river, but the water had shifted course eons ago, leaving behind only a dry gulch that Deidara was fond of using for practice bombing runs. He'd usually use earth ninjutsu to create mock buildings from the canyon floor and then spend the day demolishing them with explosives.

Sasori waited patiently while Deidara finished his run and swooped back to the canyon wall, hopping down from the giant clay bird's back as it landed.

"Sasori, what brings you out here, un?" Deidara inquired. "Have you heard something from Tenten?"

Sasori shook his head. "Nothing beyond her usual intelligence reports, sorry. The Leader has asked me to pass on a pressing mission that requires your unique skills, however."

Deidara looked crestfallen at the lack of news from Konohagakure, but nodded professionally. "What do you need?"

Sasori handed him a sealed folder. "My spies have been reporting some troop movements in the Land of Water that are somewhat alarming, both because of their size and because we don't know why it's happening. It's possible they're preparing to move against some of our assets in the region. I need you to scout out the disposition of the fleets of the Water Daimyo and Mizukage."

Scanning the documentation, Deidara nodded slowly. "Do you need me for this? It seems more suited to those little apprentices of yours, un."

Sasori shook his head. "Poe's Dragonfly puppet is a glider; it's not capable of true flight on its own. Sira's chakra capacity has not yet reached a level where she can maintain flight for herself and Poe over those distances, and I'm reluctant to send her out alone. She also would not be nearly as capable as you of engaging ships if they are preparing to strike against us."

"I get it, un," Deidara waved his hand in the air. "It doesn't sound very artistic, but I'll take care of it. Let me know if Tenten gets in touch while I'm away." Hopping on his clay bird, Deidara headed back to base to pack for the trip.

_Good,_ Sasori reflected calmly. _Even for him, flying around the Land of Water spying on naval bases will take months. Tenten should be safely married by the time he gets back to civilization._

Sasori had decided not to inform Deidara of Tenten's impending nuptials as soon as he'd had a moment to think about it. He'd trusted his partner implicitly since the younger man had been recruited into Akatsuki, but Tenten's arrival had forcibly reminded Sasori that Deidara was young, and very much in love with the Leaf kunoichi. He'd said nothing as their relationship initially blossomed because it had seemed harmless enough. The Leader and Konan's effectiveness certainly wasn't affected by their marriage.

Sasori had believed erroneously that the pair would drift apart once distance and Tenten's mission separated them, but he'd underestimated their emotional attachment. He wasn't going to tell Deidara about Tenten marrying the Hyuuga, because he wasn't entirely sure what the blond bomber would do, up to and including trying to end the engagement or killing Hyuuga Neji, a man whose continued wellbeing was suddenly very important to the Akatsuki. Sasori didn't look forward to his partner's rage when he got back, but as long as Tenten was safely married by then he could live with the fallout.

* * *

In a vast chamber far below Konohagakure, on a broad wooden pathway surrounded by tall pillars supporting the vaulted ceiling, three powerful men met in secret.

"Unbelievable," Uchiha Fugaku growled in disgust, throwing the day's newspaper on the floor in disgust. "Bad enough when that woman was sharing the Hyuuga's bed, but marriage? I didn't think even that clan of pretenders could sink so low."

A dark-haired old man with the left side of his face swathed in bandages snorted in response. "If the Hyuuga clan has accepted it, why do we care?"

"Because that woman should be dead by now," Fugaku muttered. "We can't allow this go forward."

"Perhaps you should have picked a method more reliable than missing-nin if you wanted her dead," Danzo sneered.

"Enough," Orochimaru said wearily, forestalling any further conflict between the two. "There's been no evidence as yet that the girl has any understanding of what she saw at the Chuunin Exam or its significance. One of our spy networks would have picked up on it by now if the Hyuuga were preparing any sort of move. For the moment, Fugaku let it go. Withdraw the bounty."

Fugaku's expression went sour, but he nodded. "I think we'll come to regret letting that woman live, but I will do as you ask."

"Danzo, what have your people discovered about the destruction of that base in the slums?" Orochimaru inquired, moving on.

"Not enough," the spymaster growled. "Whoever conducted the attack has a better understanding of Root methodology than I'm comfortable with, and the remains of the sealing array they set up around the base are A-rank fuuinjutsu at minimum. The fire charred most of the bodies beyond recognition, but the wound patterns were consistent enough that it had to have been at most two to four attackers of significant power."

"Do you have suspects at least?" Fugaku jabbed at Danzo. "Internal dissenters? Akatsuki?"

Danzo shot Fugaku and irritated look. "It could have been Akatsuki, but I'm more inclined to suspect Iwagakure or someone affiliated with them. One of my sensors picked up a lot of latent earth chakra in the ground around the site; far more than occurs there naturally."

"The Akatsuki have earth ninjutsu masters," Orochimaru pointed out.

Danzo shook his head. "It wasn't Deidara; there wasn't enough blast damage in the base. If it had been Kakuzu there would have been traces of other elements, not just earth."

Orochimaru shrugged. "All right; keep your people on high alert, and we'll see what develops."

The Hokage and Uchiha Fugaku went their separate ways, leaving Danzo alone in the heart of Root's headquarters. "Sai," Danzo murmured once the others were gone.

In a flicker of motion a young shinobi appeared before Danzo and knelt, bowing his head. His unnaturally pale skin was displayed by skin-hugging black clothes that left his midriff bare, and short dark hair adorned his head. Cold, dark eyes glittered intently. "Sir."

"I have a new assignment for you," Danzo said, tossing a photograph at Sai's feet. The Root operative picked it up, examining the bun-headed Leaf kunoichi. "That's the woman who's marrying the head of the Hyuuga clan. Find out everything there is to know about her. I want you to know more about her than she does. If you need more personnel, take them. Do this discreetly; the Hyuuga must not catch wind of you."

"Yes sir," Sai said tonelessly, slipping the picture into a pouch and disappearing as quickly as he had arrived.

* * *

_Two weeks later_

"Who was the founding clan leader?"

"Hyuuga Hirobi."

"Good. Who was the creator of the Caged Bird Seal and when was it created?"

"Hyuuga Ryudosu created it during the Clan Wars in what's now the Land of Lightning before the Hyuuga migrated south to join Konohagakure."

"Correct. What are the names of the three secret scrolls and their contents?"

"The first is Dojutsu Hon, which details the Byakugan techniques. The second is Hyuuga Koshabon, which records the complete lineage of the clan from the founding to the present. The third is…" Tenten trailed off and sighed, rubbing her temples and trying to stave off the oncoming headache. "I can't remember."

"The third is Ha Kyotei, the treaty codifying the terms of the Hyuuga clan's entry into Konohagakure," Hyuuga Hinata supplied the answer. "Remembering the scrolls and their details is important, Tenten; they're all involved in the wedding ceremony, though only Neji will handle the Dojutsu Hon…"

"… since I don't possess the Byakugan. I remember now. Sorry, Hinata," Tenten apologized. "It's so much to remember."

Tenten and Hinata sat on cushions at a low table in a study in the Hyuuga compound. It was a warm, late spring day, and the panels of the room's outer wall had been opened so they could enjoy the fragrant breeze that stirred the budding branches of the trees in the manicured gardens outside.

"It's all right Tenten," Hinata assured her. "Everyone born into the clan gets more than a decade to learn all of this. You've been at it a few weeks, and you're doing really well. I know you'll have it all down for the wedding."

In hindsight, it was just as well that Anko had pushed her out of active duty. Between wedding planning and learning everything she needed to in order to avoid embarrassing herself when they were married, Tenten didn't have any time for missions. The clan elders had set a date; Tenten and Neji would marry in a month and a half, on the anniversary of the clan's founding.

Tenten shook her head. "I appreciate the vote of confidence, but that's just the start, Hinata. Half of the clan may think I'm either arm candy or some diabolical kunoichi seductress who's got Neji under a spell," Hinata giggled at that, "but I know marrying Neji is more than a new name; it's a job, and to do that job well I have to know all of this," she said, gesturing to a table loaded down with books of clan law, family trees, contracts and treaties with hundreds of other organizations from daimyos to merchant conglomerates that the Hyuuga had ties to.

"Then we'll keep this up for as long as it takes for you to learn everything you need to," Hinata stated firmly, and Tenten felt a rush of gratitude to her soon-to-be sister-in-law. Hinata hadn't been on a mission in a while either, because she'd taken on tutoring and guiding Tenten as a near full-time job. It was all the more remarkable because it would have been so easy for Hinata to be bitter or angry. She'd been passed over as heir and after the wedding Tenten would outrank Hinata in the clan's hierarchy.

Hinata had a golden opportunity to build her own power base within the clan; Neji had made enemies in the last year, mostly the more conservative members who objected to both his ascension to leadership and more recently his choice of wife. Instead Hinata seemed genuinely happy with how things had turned out, and was one of Tenten's strongest supporters, going so far as to publicly chastise some of the clan's younger members when she heard them speaking ill of Tenten.

Returning to studying, Tenten was only too aware of what she owed to the former heiress. Without Hinata's encyclopedic knowledge – drilled into her since she could walk – Tenten would be lost. No one could spend as much time with a man as she had and learn nothing about his family, but the arcana, the million little rituals, niceties and bits of trivia, had never been a concern until now.

The day progressed into afternoon as Tenten memorized details about who was related to whom, how the clan negotiated contracts and a dozen other things she needed to know under Hinata's patient guidance. They were interrupted a few hours after lunch by a branch member who knocked before entering and bowed deferentially to the pair. "The Yamanaka heir has arrived, miladies," the young man informed them quietly.

Tenten groaned. "Save me," she pled Hinata.

Hinata's pale eyes sparkled with mirth. "Sorry, Tenten," she said apologetically.

Ino swept into the room, eyes alight with dreadful eagerness. "All right ladies, enough studying; it's shopping time!"

While the Hyuuga were hosting the wedding, which took a lot of decisions out of Tenten's hands, there were still a horrifying number of things she had to have a hand in, from fittings for formalwear to picking out invitations, food vendors and more. Ino was in her element, but Tenten, who had always been the least 'girly' kunoichi of her generation, usually hovered somewhere between bemusement and horror at the trips to the high-class shopping districts she'd never set foot in until meeting Neji. Flanked by Ino and Hinata, though, there was no escape and Tenten resigned herself to her fate.

* * *

_Six weeks later_

The Land of Water, Deidara had concluded, was far too large.

In terms of territory claimed, the Land of Water was bigger than the next two nations combined. Most of that space was open water, though, with the actual population of the nation clustered on far-flung islands scattered across the ocean. While the other daimyos projected their power with samurai and conscripted armies, the Water Daimyo's reign was ensured by his fleet of warships, which operated out of more than a dozen naval bases scattered through the country.

Kirigakure had its own fleet, although their ships were smaller and usually looked like civilian vessels. The water ninjutsu of the Mist ninja who crewed them were a more formidable weapon than the daimyo's cannons, and like shinobi themselves, the ships blended in with the merchant fleets that plied the sea lanes of the Land of Water.

Deidara had observed the mobilizations that Sasori had been worried about, but they seemed to be directed at the Land of Lightning; the peace between the Hidden Villages didn't fully extend to the Elemental Nations, and Water and Lightning had been fighting over a fertile coastal province on the southern border of the Land of Lightning for generations.

While Akatsuki assets seemed to be safe, Deidara had been bored enough a month in that when he encountered a pair of Kirigakure stealth ships in open water he'd decided to take them out anyways. Being unable to practice his art for that long left him grumpy, and it had been a fun fight, engaging Mist ninja in their element. He hadn't gotten all of the ninja, but he'd sunk their ships, and even for a water specialist, a hike over hundreds of kilometers of open ocean to the nearest island was not a pleasant prospect.

Some of the islands he'd visited in the south were so remote that news from the mainland didn't reach them for almost a year, but after concluding that there was no threat to the Akatsuki Deidara headed north to the more heavily populated islands close to the Land of Lightning to look for more targets of opportunity. He avoided Kirigakure itself by a wide margin; the Yondaime Mizukage was a particularly dangerous jinchuuriki surrounded by a personal army of ninja, after all.

It was on a warm, humid evening spent relaxing over a few drinks in a tavern in a fishing village a few hundred kilometers north of the capital that a newspaper discarded by some sailors from the Land of Fire on the corner of the bar caught Deidara's eye. It had been left folded open to the 'shinobi news' section in the back, and a small headline reading 'Prominent Konohagakure Clan Leader Announces Nuptials'. Wondering idly if Tenten knew whoever was getting married, Deidara picked up the paper, his one visible eye scanning the page.

The proprietor of the tavern was the only other person in the building at the late hour; the fishermen had all gone to bed, since they had to rise before dawn to catch the tides going out of the harbor. He was a retired Mist ninja, so when the blond foreigner - his only remaining customer – shot off a blast of killing intent that nearly knocked him off of his feet, he grabbed the katana under his bar. He abandoned any thought of fighting, however, when he glanced over to see the stranger almost glowing with visible chakra flow, his fist clenched around the newspaper he'd been reading. Their eyes met, and the old bartender, his blue hair going gray, saw death in that gaze. He dove out the window a second before the building was torn apart by an explosion and a giant white bird shot out of the wreckage, the blond on its back. The pale bird shot west like an arrow, and was soon lost from sight.

* * *

Sleep eluded Tenten, despite earnest effort. Nerves were keeping her awake, and she supposed it was natural. In the morning she would be marrying Neji. She'd heard that brides were supposed to be happy and the grooms the nervous ones, but for her the roles seemed to be reversed. Neji was overjoyed; he's been almost obnoxiously cheerful since she'd accepted his proposal.

Part of Tenten's disquiet was from a familiar source, her usual guilt about the choices she'd made. But as her wedding day neared Tenten had started to worry about the silence from Deidara as well. She'd been expecting some kind of reaction or reply from the blond bomber, had dreaded that he'd do something rash, but the silence was almost worse.

_He's washed his hands of you, Tenten,_ the voice of reason whispered inside her head. _Isn't that what you wanted? He's not going to wait for you forever. It's a miracle he put up with you being with Neji for as long as he did, but a marriage is more writing on the wall than he can ignore. You probably haven't heard from him because he's moved on and found a girl who doesn't belong to another man._ As much as Tenten knew in her head that was the best outcome, the thought of Deidara with someone else hurt, but she reminded herself that she had no right to feel that way. She'd made the choice to marry Neji, not him.

After lying awake for hours Tenten gave up on sleep and climbed out of bed, her unbound hair falling in loose waves around her shoulders. She slipped into a sheer robe of cream silk that felt to mid-thigh over her nude frame, tying the sash at her waist. Padding out of the bedroom on silent feet, she wove her way through the dark and towers of boxes to the kitchen.

This sleepless night was the last Tenten would spend in her own apartment; her belongings were all packed, she'd already hired movers, and tomorrow after the ceremony she'd be taking up residence in the Hyuuga compound.

Surveying the few things left in the fridge, Tenten grabbed the mostly empty carton of milk, drinking from it directly rather than unpacking a glass. A trickle of the cold liquid escaped her lips and traced a path down the side of her throat. As she wiped it away with a grimace, Tenten heard the quiet click of her balcony door's latch closing.

Whirling in alarm, Tenten cursed herself for being out of reach of her weapons for only a moment before she recognized the silhouette, her alarm vanishing and her heart skipping a beat. Even with the light from outside at his back he was unmistakable, a slender frame wrapped in a dark cloak, hair in a long ponytail and cascading down the left side of his face. "Deidara?"

"Were you expecting someone else?"

"I wasn't sure if you'd come."

Deidara looked around at her possessions all packed up in boxes, then back at her. "You should know better than to think anything could keep me away, un. Looks like I made it in time."

"In time for what?"

He swept forward into the kitchen, his expression dark and intense enough that Tenten took a step back, finding herself up against the fridge door with Deidara close enough that his cloak brushed against her robe. "I had to see you before the Hyuuga claims you."

"The wedding is tomorrow," she admitted.

"You must really love him, to do this, un."

Tenten winced. "I… I don't…" she looked away from Deidara, so she didn't see his triumphant expression. "It was never a competition, Deidara."

"I haven't conceded defeat yet," Deidara replied.

"Deidara-" Tenten's put her hands on his shoulders, to push him away, but his face eliminated the last distance between them and his lips claimed hers. Tenten was too surprised to do anything; she'd been worried he was angry with her, but the kiss was as passionate and electric as any they'd shared. A needy groan escaped her throat when his body pressed hard up against hers.

When her lips were freed from his Tenten was breathing heavily and she struggled to focus before this situation spun entirely out of control. "Deidara, I can't do this; I'm getting married tomorrow!"

"Then this is the last chance we'll have, isn't it?" Tenten gasped when he nibbled her earlobe and shivered at the kisses he trailed down the side of her neck.

"Deidara, stop," she pleaded, blushing and embarrassingly aware of how the cool air and his presence had coaxed her nipples to hard points that he could surely feel.

"If you really want me to stop then stop me, un," he challenged her, his hands running up her sides and tickling her ribs as he drew her into another intoxicating kiss.

Even in such a compromising position there were several different ways she could forcefully separate their bodies. _I should stop him. I need to. There are several reasons why this is a bad idea, starting with the fact that I'm marrying Neji tomorrow, and doing this with another man the night before our wedding is wrong. _She needed to push him away, talk to him, calm him down, but his every touch sparked flutters of heat in her gut.

Tenten's resolve crumbled in the face of his kisses and his hands roaming over her body with possessive familiarity; she couldn't think. Her muscles, tensed to force him away, relaxed in surrender. She saw something dark and feral enter his gaze as she did so.

"The Hyuuga may have known you longer, Tenten, but he'll never know you as I do," he murmured against her lips. He grasped the sash of her robe and tugged the loose knot apart in a swift motion. Unrestrained, the sheer fabric of her short robe fell open and slid off of her shoulders, pooling around her ankles and exposing her body to the silvery moonlight and his hungry gaze.

Tenten's breath caught when his hand covered her breast, and a moment later exhaled in a quiet whimper in response to the tongue in his hand lapping at her nipple. Most men had to make do with one mouth; Deidara had three, and he was good at using them for a lot more than molding clay.

Tenten's reason and desire fought, and reason was getting clobbered. _You want this, dirty girl,_ the devil on her shoulder whispered in her mind. _This is the only piece of your life that's still yours and not part of the job. Every night with Neji is a lie and part of the mission no matter what you may feel. This is all you have left that's honest._

Tenten wanted to deny the horrible words. _I love Neji, I do._

_Then why are you enjoying this so much,_ the sly, traitorous voice asked, and she didn't have an answer. Deidara's touch struck sparks down her side and over her hip. His hand slid between her legs, finding ample evidence that she wanted him. The promise in his gaze made her knees weak.

They didn't make it to the bedroom, or even to the couch in the living room. Deidara bent her over the bare island counter in the middle of her kitchen, taking her from behind with the weight of his body pressed down on hers. Their lovemaking was raw, aggressive, and urgent. Only his hand over her mouth, its tongue tangling with hers, kept her voice from waking the neighbors as her brought her over the edge.

When they were spent and Deidara helped her to her feet, wrapping his arms and cloak around her possessively, she felt his warm breath on her ear. "Marry the Hyuuga for the mission if you must, Tenten; but you and I both know you'll never belong to him," Tenten's eyes widened, and she shivered at the heated promise in his voice as well as the warm hand that cupped her breast. "When the day comes that Orochimaru is dead, I'm going to steal you away from him. Count on it, un."

The words sent a chill down her spine, and she turned to face him, worried. The heat of the moment past, she was kicking herself for giving into temptation. Slipping away from him she retrieved her robe and wrapped it around her, the thin silk less of an armor than she would have liked from his smoky gaze.

"Deidara, you can't come back to Konohagakure after tonight!" It was hard to sound firm, but she tried. "Were I'll be living tomorrow… even you can't sneak in."

Deidara nodded agreeably with a satisfied grin, undeterred. "I'll still see you when Zetsu fetches you for meetings and extractions, un." He stepped back towards the balcony. "I can be a patient man when it suits me, Tenten. Dream of me. When the Hokage falls, I'll take you away from here forever." Then he vanished in a swirl of dust.

Tenten stood silent for a long moment, taking a few strides into the living room after him before slowly sinking to her knees on the carpet. "What have I done?" Tenten whispered, hugging herself. She thought she'd been clear in the letter he sent him, thought she could be clear in person that they couldn't continue, but when he'd stood in front of her she hadn't been able to stop him, to tell him no. Hadn't wanted to, she admitted to herself.

But the more she thought about it, the worse she felt. For putting even more of a lie to the vows she was to make in the morning. For the complications she could foresee in the future. "What am I going to do when Orochimaru is dead?" Tenten shook her head. She'd cross that fraying bridge when she reached it. "I am the worst person ever," she murmured, wondering how she got into these messes.


	29. To Have and to Hold

**Chapter 29: To Have and to Hold**

* * *

Tenten slept poorly after Deidara left, and fatigue was still fuzzing her mind when a series of hard knocks on the door of her apartment brought her bolt upright with a gasp, the first rays of early morning sun streaming into the room.

"Fuck," Tenten murmured wearily as she found her slippers, and dug a bathrobe slightly more appropriate for answering the front door out of a cardboard box. Her far-too-early guest knocked again while she put it on. "Coming!" she called out, following her words to the front door and yanking it open.

Standing on her front doorstep was a familiar face marred with scars, a shaved head framing jade green eyes that sparkled with mirth. "Good morning, Bridezilla," Sakura said wryly.

"Sakura, what are you-" Tenten began before cutting off the inane question. "Sorry, I'm not all the way awake yet."

"I can see that. You know, the groom is the one who's supposed to be a nervous wreck before tying the knot. You'd better not let this get out or the international syndicate of brides will be after you for letting the gender down."

The best Tenten could manage was a weak growl. "What can I do for you?"

Sakura grinned and waved a travel carafe of coffee and a box that smelled like it was full of terribly unhealthy chocolate pastries under Tenten's nose. "The answer is what I'm here to do for you. Ino and an entire platoon of dressers and make-up artists are setting up at the Hyuuga compound to get you, your blushing groom and your respective attendants ready. I volunteered to make sure you're fed and decent when you arrive."

Tenten's stomach growled embarrassingly. "I find your offering acceptable," she said with as much dignity as she could muster, stepping aside to let Sakura into her apartment.

"I also came by to save you a trip to the hospital later," Sakura added as she dropped the breakfast goodies on the table and Tenten got out some disposable plates and cups, cocking an eyebrow at the scarred medic at that statement.

Sakura looked at Tenten's hip meaningfully. "The kunoichi's seal; you're not going to need it anymore after today, after all."

"Oh, right," Tenten said mechanically, her hand automatically brushing over the contraceptive seal tattooed on the upper slope of her left hip. _Of course I have to have it removed. I'm going to be Neji's wife_. "Won't that take too long if we're expected at the compound?" Every kunoichi had an appointment with the medics to have the seal placed once they graduated from the academy; they couldn't formally join their genin team until it was done. Tenten recalled the tattoo taking more than an hour for the medic to apply.

Sakura shook her head. "Breaking it is a lot easier than putting it on if you have the key, and the ink will fade within a few days once the chakra is gone."

"All right," Tenten conceded. Sakura set down a polished box of dark wood on the table and opened it, revealing a jade cylinder that looked like a noble's stamp for sealed correspondence, except that the business end was carved with the counterseal for the kunoichi seal. The fuuinjutsu master in Tenten itched for an hour or so to study it, but only medics were allowed to handle them, and she had no good public reason to make the request.

Tenten loosened her robe and opened it without comment to give Sakura access to her seal; if she'd ever been body-shy around other kunoichi, it hadn't survived communal bathing facilities and the post-academy female-only lessons in the subtler kunoichi arts. Tenten wasn't an eager participant or a genius in that kind of work the way Yamanaka Ino was, but she was grounded in the theory, at least.

Sakura hesitated when she got close and then chuckled before pressing the jade seal to Tenten's skin. "Damn, Tenten, you and Neji should save some of that for the honeymoon."

As the kunoichi seal dissipated with a tingle of released foreign chakra, Tenten followed Sakura's gaze and felt her cheeks heating when she realized that she'd forgotten about the collection of hickeys and scratches Deidara had left her with in the course of their… energetic coupling the night previous. "Oh kami," she groaned. "Please don't say anything, we're not supposed to… you know… during the engagement." _Especially since you weren't with Neji, naughty girl,_ her conscience jabbed her.

Sakura gave her an amused, reproachful look. "I'm a medic, Tenten. Your steamy, salacious secrets are safe with me, unlike Ino-pig. Here, let's just get rid of those." In a handful of deft motions, Sakura traced fingers wreathed in pale green chakra over Tenten's skin, and within a few minutes she was pristine, free of the marks Deidara had left. "Thanks, Sakura," Tenten said gratefully as she closed her robe and dug into breakfast.

"No problem," the scarred medic replied breezily. "It's what friends are for."

The wedding itself was traditional and intimate; it was held in the Hyuuga compound's shine, and the attendants were limited to Neji's relatives and the elders, Tenten's parents and siblings, and two guests who weren't blood relations but family in every way that mattered: Rock Lee and Maito Gai, both of whom were as weepy as Tenten's sisters by the time it was all over.

Tenten had gone along with almost everything the Hyuuga elders had demanded of the ceremony. They hadn't tried to paint her white at least; the declaration of virginal purity would have been a bit hypocritical when the bride and groom had been enjoying each other's company intimately for years. She hadn't fussed over the structure of the vows beyond a few small alterations.

Tenten had drawn the line at the tsunokakushi they wanted her to wear, however. "I'm a kunoichi, not a simpering noble's daughter; I'm not signaling my intention to be a 'gentle and obedient wife'. Marriages shouldn't start with lies." The elders had choked a bit on that, and Neji had been fighting laughter through the whole conversation, but they settled on a wataboshi in addition to the traditional white kimono. Neji looked as good in black as he did in his usual white, and Tenten managed to ignore the all-too-familiar guilt gnawing at her when she watched the happiness on his face as he spoke his vows.

The clan rituals were far more involved than the relatively brief religious ceremony, but after her exhaustive studying with Hinata, Tenten got through the whole thing without making any mistakes.

If the official ceremony itself was intimate, the festivities afterwards were not. The once-in-a-generation event of a Hyuuga clan head marrying was a stupendous affair. The more public and secular ceremony was held outdoors, under a massive pavilion in one of Konohagakure's central parks. Afterwards a banquet was held, and Tenten and Neji greeted a multitude of guests and thanked them for coming.

For all the tedium of having to smile and nod and greet a seemingly endless line of guests whose names Tenten struggled to remember before finally giving up, she was also treated to a pleasant and unexpected gift. Tenten blinked in surprise when the last guest in line stopped in front of her and Neji. Most of the prominent nobles had been towards the beginning of the line, but the tall man with dark skin and pale blond hair who stood before them was surely one of their number.

"Prince Raidon, we're honored by your attendance," Neji said smoothly as Tenten took in their last guest. She recognized the name; he was the oldest son and heir of Raishi, the Lightning Daimyo. He was young and solidly built, plainly muscular even under his gold-embroidered clothes of imperial blue silk. A sash at his waist held an unornamented sword, and when he took Tenten's hand and bowed over it, she could feel the calluses on his hands that told her he was probably at least as good with the blade as the samurai under his command.

Raidon favored both of them with a brilliant smile. "It's always a pleasure to travel through the Land of Fire's forests and see Konohagakure. I don't get to visit as often as I'd like." He looked at Tenten, and she saw something like mirth in his eyes. "Would you be so kind as to take a walk with me, Lord Hyuuga? I believe my companions have been quite patient in holding back their desire to talk to your wife."

"I believe that would be appropriate, Prince Raidon," Neji agreed, and Tenten looked at him sharply, catching the amusement in his expression as well before the pair moved off a ways.

Tenten had of course spotted the pair of kunoichi shadowing the prince, but in the midst of so many people sensing individual chakra signatures was impossible, and she hadn't been trying. When the pair drew close she looked at them quizzically, trying to place them from her previous visits to the Land of Lightning. It was a sign of how badly she was distracted by the wedding preparations that it took her a moment to recognize them.

"Hello sensei," Aburame Kaede spoke first. "Congratulations on your wedding." Tenten absorbed the changes a year and a half had wrought on her student. Kaede was still short and skinny, and probably would remain so even at her full growth, but her choice of garb had changed significantly in the interim. She wore a half-mask that covered her face from her hairline to the tip of her nose, a matte black metal interrupted only by curving tinted lenses over her eyes. Her curly brown hair was still short, standing up a bit as it was hemmed in by the mask on all sides. For the first time in Tenten's memory the Aburame girl had abandoned her traditional greatcoat in public. Instead Kaede wore a long-sleeved blouse and long slacks that fell to her ankles, both garments made of simple gray linen and loose enough around the sleeves and calves to hide weapons and allow for easy passage of kikai bugs.

"Kaede!" Tenten exclaimed, hugging her diminutive student once her surprise wore off. "It's so good to see you. I didn't think you'd make it." She'd sent her former students notice of her nuptials but hadn't expected to see them, knowing they couldn't leave to return to Konohagakure.

"The daimyo wanted the prince to have guards familiar with the Land of Fire, so here we are," Kaede's companion commented, and Tenten's jaw dropped at the familiar voice.

Stepping back she turned to the other kunoichi. "Uchiha Amaya, do your grandparents know you're dressed like that?"

Amaya laughed as Tenten took in her appearance. Kaede's change to her wardrobe had been surprising, but it paled in comparison to Amaya's new look. She'd grown out her raven hair; her ponytail fell almost to her waist, and the bangs framing her face fell past her chin. Tenten noted with some surprise that unlike Kaede Amaya had grown quite a bit; she was forced to look up at her student, who now towered a good fifteen centimeters above her and seemed to be closing in on Itachi's height.

Amaya had grown in other ways, too. Her bust had filled out significantly and her hips had become more rounded, features that her choice of wardrobe exaggerated. Amaya wore a form-fitting sleeveless dark blue top that pushed her breasts up and out, and her midriff was bare down to the hip-hugging tan pants that clung to every curve of her long legs down to below her knee before meeting her bandage-wrapped calves. The wrappings extended down to the tops of her reinforced sandals. Her arms were covered from elbow to knuckle with heavily padded red leather fingerless gauntlets with knuckle ridges similar to what Cloud shinobi wore. The sheathed katana across her back was a new addition as well.

Amaya shrugged. "I walked right by some other Uchiha today and they didn't recognize me; not that most of them were looking at my face." Grinning, Amaya took a deep breath to demonstrate in a move that would have done Ino proud; Tenten watched one of the caterer's apprentices trip over his own feet in the course of ogling her former student. "I stand out way too much to fade into the background now, so I've stolen a page from Kikiyo-sama's book: I dress like a kunoichi who does most of her work on her back. It keeps people underestimating me until it's too late. Besides, my wardrobe is going to be the least of my grandparent's freak-outs when I go home." Amaya half-turned, revealing that she had two visible tattoos Tenten could see, one a small red rose on her left hip just above her waistband, the other a flowing tribal pattern on the back of her neck that started at her hairline and ran down her spine to below the neckline of her top.

"You do like living dangerously, don't you?" Tenten asked with bemusement before shaking herself. "But what am I dithering on about. Welcome home!" Tenten hugged her towering Uchiha student.

"Glad to be back," Amaya said quietly. "It was generous of the daimyo and his son to let us come; I'm happy they did."

Aware that their assembled guests were waiting on her and Neji to kick off the festivities, Tenten stepped back and flagged down one of the branch Hyuuga in charge of seating. "Can you find these two and their companion seats in the 'family and friends' section?"

The young man with pale eyes and sealed forehead considered it for a moment before nodding. "Of course; right this way, please." Collecting Kaede, Amaya and Raidon he led them into the large pavilion set up for the reception. Neji and Tenten made their own way in, arm in arm.

"You had something to do with that, didn't you?" Tenten inquired of Neji without moving her lips.

"I might have mentioned in the invitation to the Lightning Daimyo which of his bodyguards would be well suited to escorting his representative," Neji admitted while smiling and waving to the crowd.

"Thank you," Tenten whispered.

* * *

The various festivities – and stealing some time to catch up with her students before Prince Raidon departed to head back home – consumed most of the day, and it wasn't until late afternoon that Neji and Tenten departed for a private retreat in the south of the Land of Fire for their honeymoon.

"I appreciate all the work the clan did putting that together, but who were all those people?" Tenten mused during the run. The clan had offered to hire a carriage, but for a pair of recently retired jounin their own feet were faster and more comfortable. "Just sending out the thank you notes for all the gifts is going to be a chore."

Neji shrugged. "It's all about status and prestige, love. The elders wouldn't want anyone in the Land of Fire to forget how important we are," he observed. "It's tedious sometimes, but it's a worthwhile investment, too." When Tenten raised an eyebrow, he elaborated. "A lot of the business that comes our way is from noble families that we have connections with. They're more comfortable with us because we straddle the two worlds: aristocracy and ninja. Often clients come to us because they know that a Hyuuga ninja will not only get the job done, but won't do anything gauche or embarrassing in the process. Picture Rock Lee being hired to ensure the security of a betrothal negotiation."

Tenten laughed, nodding slowly. "I see. Or like the number of branch members that are out playing chaperone at any one time?"

"Exactly," Neji confirmed.

One of the things Tenten had learned in her lessons with Hinata was that the branch family was much larger than she'd ever realized. A startling number of Hyuuga – usually half to two-thirds at any one time – were employed as chaperones and bodyguards to young noblewomen, not only in the Land of Fire but other nations as well.

Few members of the branch family learned the deepest secrets of the Gentle Fist that made the main family so feared in combat; Neji had stunned his clan by picking up advanced techniques like the Kaiten as a genin without any formal instruction. The byakugan itself, however, was a dominant trait that manifested itself in every Hyuuga, so the all-seeing eyes were a skill virtually every member of the clan possessed. Those like Tenten who married into the clan were the only ones who lacked it.

Since most branch members received at least some ninja training as well, it had become increasingly fashionable over the last few generations for wealthy nobles to hire Hyuuga chaperones for daughters of a certain age. Not only were they capable of physically protecting their charges and blending into the rarefied society of the aristocracy, but a minder who could see through walls was helpful in giving noble fathers some peace of mind by ensuring that any romantic experimentation was curtailed until the young lady in question was safely married.

The sun had set when Tenten and Neji reached their destination. She'd never been to the Spirit Springs before – never had the money – but she'd heard stories about them, as had most people in the Land of Fire. Hidden in a valley nestled in a range of volcanic hills, the Spirit Springs were, as their name implied, a series of mineral springs, but they were more than that. It was one of a handful of places in the Elemental Nations where the world's natural chakra was concentrated enough to be almost tangible.

The texture and 'feel' of natural chakra varied depending on where you were. In and around the Spirit Springs, it was a slow, soothing flow. As soon as they entered the valley Tenten could feel it, like warm waves lapping at the edges of her mind. "Wow," she murmured, pausing to look out over the moonlit valley.

"Just wait until you see where we're staying."

The valley and the land around it were property of the Fire Daimyo, and almost entirely undeveloped so as not to disrupt the balance of natural chakra. Even the sole road leading to the valley was little more than a winding trail. But near the entrance of the valley, a small and obscenely luxurious resort had been built for the comfort of those with the funds and connections to obtain an invitation to visit.

Neji and Tenten were expected, and as soon as they stepped through the door of the resort they were taken in hand by a small army of polite, efficient servants. By bedtime they'd been treated to a relaxing bath and an amazing meal. The sleeping chambers they were shown to were roomy, and the bedroom had an amazing view of the valley below through a wall that was mostly glass and had a private balcony outside.

For a while they just talked. All too often since their engagement they'd been so bogged down in details of the upcoming shift in their lives that there hadn't been time to just relax and be alone together. For both of them, the calm of the Spirit Springs were a mental balm. The Springs were renowned as a place of healing for everyone who visited, but it was special for shinobi, whose own bodies and minds were more receptive to the energies of the place.

Tenten groaned in approval when Neji's deft fingers found their way onto her shoulders and started kneading away the tension in her muscles. Her eyes went half-lidded as he worked on her, and she reflected on the benefits of having a boyfriend – _no, it's husband now, she corrected herself _– who could _see_ knots and points of stress in her muscles and apply precisely the right amount of pressure and chakra to leave them loose and warm in his wake.

In no time Tenten felt like she was practically melting in his arms, and was increasingly aware of a demanding heat rising inside her in response to his closeness, his scent and touch. Squirming out of Neji's grasp she turned around to face him. "Cheater," she chided him lightly, the effect only slightly spoiled by the flush of her skin and heavy breathing. "Those eyes of yours aren't fair. Driving me crazy with just a touch? How am I supposed to compete?"

Neji cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her. "I think it's fair," he replied reasonably when their lips parted, before running his hands down her flanks, leaving faint needles of warm bliss in their wake. "You've been driving me crazy just by being you for a long time. I'm playing catch up."

Tenten examined his earnest expression, and couldn't hold back a smile. "Kami that should sound corny, but coming from you it just feels right. What's your secret, Lord High Hyuuga?"

"I just love you that much, Lady Hyuuga" he replied simply, his pale eyes fixed on her, devouring all of her with a gaze. "Even now there's a little piece of me that's terrified I'll wake up and this – you and me, here, _married_ – will be a dream, because I never imagined I could have this, that I could choose my wife and it would be you."

_Damn it,_ Tenten thought with amused resignation at how gooey she felt inside when he said things like that. Clasping his hand in hers, she let the engagement ring and wedding band on her finger rub against the heavier ring on his. "There are times when I can't quite believe I'm here either, but this is real. Never doubt that, or that I love you." Saying it, Tenten meant it sincerely, and while her upbringing had a number of uncomplimentary things to say about a woman who could say that to more than one man at a time, she'd given up trying to fight her conflicted emotions. She loved Neji, and she loved Deidara. There would be a reckoning someday, but until then there was no point in borrowing trouble.

Pressing her hands to his solid, muscled chest, Tenten traced them slowly downwards, a smoky look in her eyes. "Now," she purred slowly. "I don't have any fancy clan techniques to show off. But I have been stuck in Yamanaka Ino's company quite a bit in the last few months. She was full of advice, and I won't deny she knows a lot of… interesting things." With her palms on Neji's stomach, she felt his breath catch as he processed the implications of what his wife could possibly have been discussing with Konohagakure's foremost seductress. "So now that you've gotten me all worked up, I hope you didn't slack off on sensei's endurance exercises when you joined ANBU, Lord High Hyuuga." Leaning forward as her hands drifted lower, she bit his earlobe gently. "Because kami knows you're going to need it," she whispered.

* * *

_Author's Note: So this chapter's a bit on the short side. I wanted to get the wedding behind us before we make another small jump forward in time and into a new arc._

_A big acknowledgement while I'm here: thanks to LessWrong, author of the amazing Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality for mentioning Black Cloaks, Red Clouds in May's blog update on hpmorcom._

_Also, welcome to all the new followers of the story who have joined us since my last update. Thanks for all the reviews!_


	30. Desert Warfare

**Chapter 30: Desert Warfare**

* * *

_One year later_

The half-finished colossus of stone arches stretched through the desert from the mountains to the north, where water flowed through a mighty river from high tributaries to the Western Sea. The aqueduct was not yet completed, but when it did it would carry some of the water from that river almost two hundred kilometers to the desert capital of the Land of Wind.

It was an ambitious undertaking, both because of the scope of the engineering and the political challenges of its location. The river in question was inside the borders of the Land of Earth. In a different age the Wind Daimyo would have had to fight a war with his counterpart in Earth to access the river, and then a quiet battle of attrition would have raged between shinobi of Iwagakure and Sunagakure over its construction and control.

Under the peace of the Five Kages, however, the project had become feasible. A treaty between the two nations had negotiated payment for water rights. Many of the workers building the aqueduct were natives of the Land of Earth, master stonemasons that only that nation could provide.

As the full moon rose over the unfinished end of the aqueduct deep in the desert, however, the work crews were far away, and silence hung heavy over the construction site, broken only by the howl of the dry wind over the dunes.

One man stood atop the aqueduct, twenty meters above ground on a stone roof as broad as a highway. He stood on the edge, looking out over the desert that had been his home for all of his life, contemplating the nation and the task before him. Either he would die tonight, or he would change the destiny of the Land of Wind, perhaps irrevocably.

He was a tall man and broad of shoulder, massing more than one hundred and forty kilos, all of it muscle. His solid frame, covered in a black uniform save for the teal sash around his waist and the bright white and purple paint on his face, was larger and more muscular than his father or brother. His short hair, hidden beneath a black hood with pointy edges like cat's ears, was as dark as the cloth that shrouded it. His sister was blonde and his father and brother redheads, but he took after his grandfather, the Sandaime Kazekage.

Sabaku no Kankuro heard a whisper of sand behind him, and slightly louder two sets of muffled footfalls. He didn't turn to look. He already knew who was there. The die was cast.

A shorter and younger man, with shorter, bright red hair and dark marks around his eyes like the tanuki the demon inside him resembled, stepped up beside him, seemingly not weighed down at all by the massive gourd worn on his back. "Have you caught the perpetrators yet, Kankuro?" Sabaku no Gaara, the Godaime Kazekage, asked harshly. His bodyguards, masked Sunagakure ANBU, remained a respectful distance away from the brothers.

Kankuro shook his head. They were both looking out over a construction site that now more closely resembled a war zone, covered in deep blast craters punctuated by the smoking ruins of cranes and building materials. The top of the aqueduct itself where they stood was pitted with holes, many the results of explosions powerful enough to collapse sections of the roof entirely, exposing the man-high pipes below. "We know who did it, but he's probably two nations away by now. Deidara wouldn't have stuck around in our territory after an attack as brazen as this."

From the corner of his eye, Kankuro watched his little brother stiffen in response to that name. Gaara would never admit it, and would kill anyone who suggested it, but he was afraid of the blond bomber. Deidara was the only person other than Namikaze Naruto who had ever defeated Gaara in battle, the only enemy who'd broken through his 'ultimate defense' and inflicted pain upon him. The fact that he survived thanks to a kunoichi weaker than his sister and a trio of foreign genin only fueled his humiliation and hatred. "Double the bounty on that terrorist's head," Gaara growled harshly. "Make sure it's getting posted in all the other villages, too. I don't want that man to be able to sleep peacefully anywhere in the Elemental Nations."

"It will be done," Kankuro replied. The brothers shared a moment of silence before the elder spoke up again. "Gaara, has there been any news about Temari?" It had been three years since Temari and her students had vanished on her way home from the Chuunin Exam in the Land of Lightning. The first year or so, the not knowing had been the worst.

"Temari? Temari's dead, Kankuro." Gaara's voice was flat, uninterested, and Kankuro pushed down a spike of anger. He'd known since he was a child that Gaara didn't love either of his siblings, but to hear him dismiss their missing sister so casually grated on him.

"We don't know that, Gaara," Kankuro argued. "We have the word of one traumatized genin who may or may not have been brainwashed that she's dead. He could be wrong, or misinformed. The Akatsuki could have captured her. Our scouts might still find her, find something."

"I've called off the search, Kankuro. It's a waste of time and money," Gaara said dismissively. "Even if she is still alive, she could hardly be trusted after this long. I don't want to hear any more about Temari. If you want to avenge her, find Deidara and see that he dies."

Only long years of experience and training kept Kankuro's rage from his face. _I love Temari even if you don't little brother. I'd do anything for her. You're just making this easier._ Feeling a lot of his guilt slipping away, Kankuro moved his fingers for the first time since Gaara's arrival.

The Kazekage's bodyguards never had a chance. Two figures shrouded in dark cloth leapt up through a hole in the aqueduct behind the pair of ANBU from where they'd been hidden in one of the pipes. Crow decapitated one guard with a vicious kick from a bladed foot, and Black Ant swallowed up the other, his screams quickly fading as Kankuro emptied a canister of nerve gas into the puppet's barrel chest.

When Kankuro turned to face his brother Gaara's sand was already free of its gourd, and more was slithering up from the desert below. "What do you think you're doing, Kankuro?" Gaara sounded bored, disinterested. The lives of the men Kankuro had just killed meant nothing to him, after all.

"What does it look like, Gaara?" Kankuro's voice was weary but determined. "I'm betraying your worthless ass. I should have smothered you in your cradle when you were an infant, but that's a mistake I'm happy to say can be fixed."

"Fool." Sand whipped around Kankuro from every direction despite his attempt to dodge, encasing him in a sand coffin from neck down in an instant. "I killed father just for getting in my way. What makes you think you can survive turning on me?"

"Because you're just like him," Kankuro wheezed, the sand's pressure making breathing a chore. "You think you can stand alone."

Gaara shook his head. "Goodbye, brother." The sand contracted with crushing force.

Instead of the fountain of blood that usually resulted from one of Gaara's sand burials, the jinchuuriki was treated to an explosion of fast-sealing cement issuing forth from the destroyed storage seals that had been carved into the wooden hide of the second Crow Kankuro had been controlling as a body double. The sand Gaara had sent after his brother was encased in a solid block of cement, and the redhead had to jump back to avoid getting splattered with more cement.

The real Kankuro emerged from another crater, shaking his head sadly. "You've gotten complacent, Gaara. Just because I let you sense my puppet substitution most of the time doesn't mean I'm always that sloppy."

Black-ringed eyes wary, Gaara paused to draw up more sand from the desert floor to augment his personal defense. "You think that makes a difference, Kankuro? I'll still bury you in the end."

Three new arrivals blurred into place around Gaara and Kankuro with a trio of perfectly coordinated shunshin. All three were shrouded in black cloaks with red clouds. "That may be harder than you think, un," said a slender blond man with long bangs, a ponytail and a hard look in his one visible eye.

"There's no one here to save you this time, Sabaku no Gaara," a hunched-over form with a half-mask and straw hat added.

The third arrival, a woman with long brown hair in a simple braid and a white mask with swirling patterns, said nothing. She took up a position on the side of Gaara opposite from Sasori, while Deidara stepped up beside Kankuro.

There was wariness in Gaara's eyes, but burning rage too as ever more sand flew up from the desert floor to circle him. "You would betray the village to the Akatsuki, Kankuro?" Gaara snarled. His left eye was starting to turn from white to dark, a four-pointed gold star replacing his pupil.

"They had Temari, Gaara," Kankuro said quietly. "I know better than to expect you to understand or care, but I love our sister every bit as much as you don't."

"Oh, I know brother," Gaara hissed, his grin spreading impossibly wide. "_Everyone_ knows how much you loved fucking our dear Temari. A pity she'll have to raise that incestuous brat she was carrying alone."

Most of those watching had seen or heard of Gaara's crude partial transformations into Shukaku as a genin, but this was different. For a few long moments Gaara's entire body disappeared inside a roaring storm of sand, and then the cloud exploded outward. Gaara's entire body was covered in the tan muscle and blue veins of Shukaku's flesh, but his limbs and torso were evenly proportioned, retaining a man-shape perhaps three meters tall, with the bijuu's broad, lashing single tail stretching almost five meters behind him. His face was a mix of Gaara's and Shukaku's, blue tanuki ears popping out from Gaara's messy red hair, his eyes both black and gold, his face distorted into a muzzle full of sharp teeth.

"I haven't been idle since our last meeting, Deidara," Gaara snarled. "This time I'll tear you apart." In a single, powerful leap he hurled himself at Deidara and Kankuro, claws outstretched to rend their flesh. Kankuro leapt back.

Deidara, now facing Gaara's charge alone, dodged Gaara's first claw swipe and tail sweep, but the jinchuuriki surprised him with a swift kick with his human-proportioned legs, the talons on his feet tearing into Deidara's chest, nearly splitting him in two. The gaping wound failed to bleed however, and Deidara's form faded to the chalky white hue of clay. Gaara disappeared in a swirl of sand an instant before the clay clone exploded violently, reappearing a safe distance away. "I remember your tricks, Deidara," Gaara said in the gravelly bass that was as much Shukaku's voice as his. "By the way, brother," he added with a malicious glance at Kankuro. "I may stand alone, but I didn't come alone." With that, Gaara snapped two monstrous fingers.

Immediately a dozen more Sand ANBU blurred into place, surrounding the ambushers. They didn't hesitate, launching concerted attack at all four of them.

Laughing like a maniac, Deidara threw his hands wide, unleashing a flurry of tiny clay spiders in every direction. Gaara had to abort a charge at the blond bomber to evade them, and one Sand ANBU was caught in the blast, while the others retreated. The masked woman in Akatsuki garb simply sank into the stone of the aqueduct like a diver into water, and Sasori's lashing segmented tail skewered the only ANBU who came after him. Fully half of the ANBU reserved their fury for Kankuro, ganging up to take down the traitor in their own ranks. Crow and Black Ant stopped two of them, and a glue trap Kankuro had laid down snared a third, but three got past the puppeteer's defenses. Two wind jutsus and a brace of kunai flew towards him.

A moment before they hit, a much stronger wind blast from above nullified the weaker jutsus and sent the kunai flying back at their thrower. The attackers themselves were hit by the wide-ranging attack and thrown back in disarray. In the wake of the powerful gust Temari dropped from the sky, landing beside Kankuro with her massive war fan folded up in hand.

"You too, Temari?" Gaara hissed, a mocking tone to his voice. "I thought you at least had better sense."

Temari sighed. "I didn't want any part in this, but I won't let you kill Kankuro." The ANBU hesitated warily at the sight of both Sand siblings standing back to back, especially as Kankuro had taken advantage of their distraction to unseal two more puppets, Salamander and an unusual construct that was modeled after a massive snake.

"Kill them all," Gaara growled. He suited actions to words, disappearing in a blur and hurling himself at his traitorous siblings, but Deidara appeared in his path.

"Your battle is with us, un," he informed the enraged Kazekage, spreading his hands wide as clay poured from all three of his mouths. The white blobs merged and formed themselves into the head of a dragon that shot towards Gaara with a roar and bit off a piece of his tail as he dodged. The clay kept coming, forming a sinuous body of white clay. Deidara leapt onto the weaving back of his clay dragon as it climbed into the air. "Our art will be your end, jinchuuriki!"

A flock of tiny clay birds flew out of the dragon's mouth and homed in on Gaara. Sneering, he threw up a series of sand walls that stopped the flock cold. When the barrage ended he sent that sand blasting back at Deidara. The blond bomber dodged, but the sand didn't return to Gaara, dispersing itself out over the desert as he drew new sand from random spots in the desert below. "I won't let you pollute my sand with your toys this time, Deidara," he growled.

Deidara's expression turned to a moue of distaste. "As if I'd do that again," he muttered. "Nothing's less artful than a repeat performance."

Summoning a platform of sand beneath him, Gaara rose up into the air to confront Deidara directly, forming dozens of man-sized spikes of hardened sand and sending them hurtling at Deidara's dragon. The blond destroyed a number of them with well-aimed birds, but some made it through, and his dragon couldn't dodge them all. Before they struck, however, half a dozen thin, high-powered jets of water shot up from the aqueduct roof, striking and softening the spikes until they lose their shape and sloughed off of the dragon's clay hide instead of tearing it apart. A moment later those streams of water converged on Gaara, who got a thorough soaking himself that sent him tumbling through the air until he caught himself with more dry sand.

On the aqueduct roof Sasori stood calmly beside a massive puppet. It stood on two squat legs that supported a barrel-shaped body from which sprouted no less than six serpentine heads, each one with an open mouth filled with a high-pressure nozzle.

Gaara retaliated with a roar and a truly massive wave of sand that rose from every direction, hundreds of tons of grainy death burying Sasori and his puppet from all sides. Gaara grinned hideously, but paid for taking his eyes off of Deidara when the blond bomber pelted him with fast-moving bombs that exploded against his sandy hide. Gaara's transformed body quickly filled in the holes with fresh sand, however, and he turned on the bomber. "You're all alone now, Deidara. Prepare to die."

Deidara laughed. "'Prepare to die'? I don't expect art from as dull a soul as you, Gaara, but at least get someone to write you better lines than that, un!"

Gaara summoned up another avalanche of sand, but before he could bury Deidara and his dragon six blasts of water slammed into his back, digging into his sand shell like blades and scoring deep gouges as they knocked him to the ground.

"Besides, I'm not alone yet," Deidara added as he hit Gaara with several more bird bombs as the jinchuuriki staggered to his feet. Retreating from the onslaught, Gaara half-turned to see what had hit him from behind, and saw a receding dome of rock formed from the aqueduct stones that had sheltered Sasori and the masked woman standing beside him from the onslaught. Sasori's water-spewing puppet and Deidara both resumed their attacks.

* * *

On a different section of the aqueduct, battle was not going well for the Sand ANBU attacking the Sabaku siblings. For all that they hadn't seen each other in three years, Kankuro and Temari still fought like halves of a seamless whole. Kankuro's puppets wreaked havoc among his enemies, and the three-headed snake proved to have the same high-pressure water cannons as Sasori's larger puppet, firing off blasts that hit with bone-breaking force while Crow and Black Ant danced among his enemies and Salamander shrugged off the few attacks that got past Temari's powerful wind blasts.

For her part, the Kazekage's sister was going up against half a dozen other wind masters and wiping the floor with them. Even working in concert, they couldn't match her power. Kankuro was impressed and a little intimidated by his sister's prowess, which exceeded the skill she'd possessed when she was captured. Several of the ANBU were already down when Temari bit her thumb and spread a streak of blood across her fan's ridged cloth. Her next swing summoned not one but a small pack of sickle-wielding weasels that tore through the ANBU like so much wheat.

When the dust settled all of their attackers were dead or dying, but their respite was short. Two more Sand ANBU appeared before them. One was a tall a man with a mask engraved with a camel in profile with only a single eye hole. Beside him was a woman with a desert wasp mask.

"So those two still run ANBU?" Temari inquired lightly.

"Unfortunately," Kankuro muttered.

"To think it would come to this," Camel observed sadly. "I understand Temari's betrayal; they had years to brainwash her. But you, Kankuro? I taught you better than this."

"Don't pretend you ever cared about us," Kankuro shot back at the one-eyed man in the camel mask. "When we were kids you were Gaara's keeper first and our mentor second, and ever since he killed father we've never been anything more than spare Sabaku. That ends tonight. I refuse to live in fear of Gaara anymore. Back off or I will not hesitate to kill you, Baki."

"Know your place, boy," Wasp castigated Kankuro in a scornful voice. "Surrender now or you'll be the ones to die."

Temari shook her head sadly. "This only ends one way, Wasp. You know that." Then she unleashed another wind blast, too large for Camel to block directly. Instead he launched a volley of compressed air back at her, and fire leapt from Wasp's hands, creating a roaring wave of fire that was blocked just short of the siblings by Salamander's extendible shield.

The battle between the Sand siblings and the ANBU captains was fierce, and weighted against Temari and Kankuro. Not only were their opponents older and more experienced, but Wasp lead Sunagakure's Internal Security division with devastating effectiveness. Her clan had an affinity for fire ninjutsu rare in Sunagakure, and it allowed her to counter Temari's wind blasts and Kankuro's wooden puppets to devastating effect. Worse, Camel wasn't as strong as Temari but he was possibly more skilled, and he'd trained her for half of her career.

In minutes Kankuro's only remaining puppet was the relatively fireproof but largely defensive Salamander, and both he and Temari were tiring quickly, while Camel and Wasp were closing in. "This isn't looking so good," Kankuro admitted.

"Don't worry," Temari panted. "I brought the chibi Akatsuki."

Kankuro looked at his sister sharply, his lips forming the words 'chibi Akatsuki' quizzically. Then he noticed two cloak-shrouded shapes nearly invisible in the night dropping from the sky to land behind Camel and Wasp. Neither was so oblivious as to fall victim to a sneak attack, but they were nonetheless forced onto the defensive.

Wasp found herself under assault from a lithe young kunoichi of perhaps eighteen with mud brown eyes and short hair. The new arrival wore a black Akatsuki cloak, but without the red clouds Sasori and Deidara sported. She was armed with a pair of assassin's claws, a trio of blades resting above each fist, and she proceeded to launch a blistering series of attacks. Wasp dodged the initial flurry and then knives appeared in her hands as she fought back, but her attacker succeeded in keeping her too busy to use hand signs. "Is that Sira?" Kankuro asked in surprise.

"Yup," Temari replied.

"I thought she was paralyzed at the Chuunin Exam."

"She was. It's complicated."

"So if she's alive…"

"Yup."

Camel fired a volley of wind blades at Sira's back, but a cloud of smoke from a summoning scroll appeared in the path of the powerful jutsu and the humanoid figure within took the hit full on the chest. The jutsu cut only shallow gouges in the metal plates covering a massive wooden body. Camel didn't get a chance to attack again, because the ungainly-looking puppet lunged forward in a shockingly fast movement, its head-sized fist narrowly missing the dodging ANBU and pulverizing the stone where he'd been standing.

Recognizing he was facing a puppeteer, Camel launched a series of fast wind blades at the cloaked figure whose twitching fingers were controlling the massive puppet. Poe didn't try to dodge. Instead the skeletal glider wings still emerging from the mechanism on his back briefly glowed with chakra, and in a few precise motions flicked away the oncoming jutsu. Before he could attack again Camel was forced to retreat again from the massive puppet trying to squash him.

Kankuro raised an eyebrow at experienced ANBU forced on the defensive by a pair of eighteen year old genin. "Since when did your students get this good?"

Temari shrugged. "I wasn't kidding when I called them chibi Akatsuki. They're Sasori's apprentices now, not mine."

Sira's fight ended first. Once Wasp recovered from her surprise and got used to the younger woman's weapons and fighting style she started counterattacking, driving Sira back. The young Akatsuki had obviously learned a lot during her time among the 'deceased', but in the end experience won out. Wasp feinted past Sira's guard and struck as quick as a viper, burying her knife to its hilt between Sira's ribs, angling the blow up to pierce her heart. Sira shuddered and stiffened, coughing up gouts of blood that splashed Wasp's mask. Sira's eyes went dull and lifeless as she collapsed to her knees.

Kankuro watched Sira fall, feeling a familiar ache in his chest. Even if she'd defected to the Akatsuki, he remembered the cheerful girl who had been Temari's student. Glancing at Temari and Poe he was surprised to note that they didn't seem concerned or fazed at all. A moment later he found out why.

Wasp snorted in contempt, stepping back from her beaten opponent. She turned to launch a fire blast at Poe, but even as her hands flashed through signs, Sira's head snapped up. With the knife still buried in her ribs she surged to her feet and in one deft motion drove both sets of assassin's claws deep into Wasp's back.

"Impossible…" Wasp gasped as blood poured from her mouth and out from under her mask.

"We don't die that easily, bitch," Sira informed her dying opponent in a venomous soprano.

**"We don't die that easily, bitch," **a deeper voice in a rumbling bass spoke at the exact same time from Sira's lips in an eerie echo.

"No!" Camel yelled as Sira yanked her bloody claws out of Wasp's back and the older woman crumpled to the stone, already dead. Knocking back Poe's huge puppet with a wind blast, he launched himself at Sira, a promise of death in his visible eye. Mid-leap, however, a tiny flying contraption swooped down from above and latched onto Camel's back. The small glider had spindly, almost delicate arms and legs of light wood, wide bat-like wings and a curving tail like a scorpion's. It was with that tail that the puppet struck, driving a stinger gleaming with poison deep into the side of Camel's neck.

Camel's charge ended when he crumpled to the floor, his body convulsing. His hands tore off his mask, revealing Baki's one-eyed face. Greenish foam poured from his lips, and the hate burning in his eye gave way to the vacancy of death.

The tiny flying puppet fluttered over to the giant one, perching on its shoulder. Sira calmly cleaned gore from her claws with a rag before dropping it on Wasp's body. Then she gripped the hilt of the knife protruding from her chest and tugged it out with a grimace.

"It freaks me the hell out when you and Zetsu do that, Sira," Poe complained as he absently flicked a hand and interposed the massive puppet's bulk between the two of them and an errant wave of sand from Gaara's battle with the older Akatsuki.

Sira shrugged. "We're stuck with each other for life unless I go back to being an invalid, so we might as well benefit from the symbiosis."

"Still creepy."

Sira absently smacked her partner upside the head before turning to watch their master do battle with the Kazekage.

* * *

The fight between jinchuuriki and Akatsuki had moved away from where Kankuro and Temari fought the ANBU, and Gaara was in full attack mode. It was almost mesmerizing watching the hill-sized waves of sand rise and fall until you remembered that the Kazekage was manipulating tons of the stuff and trying to crush everyone in sight. As they watched, Gaara managed to maneuver enough sand to overwhelm Sasori's water-spewing puppet and crush it under a dune's worth of desert.

Closing in on the puppet master with a mad grin, he didn't notice Sasori and Deidara exchange a significant look, or the slim figure of the masked Akatsuki slipping from the stone behind him. "Naegi, now!" Sasori snapped, and in sync the puppeteer and the masked woman knelt, pressing their palms into the stone surface of the aqueduct roof. Their chakra pulsed visibly and flowed into shallow grooves carved into the stone, softly glowing blue energy filling a complex sealing array.

The effect was immediate and dramatic. The huge clouds of sand flying through the air collapsed and fell back to the ground. Gaara himself underwent a similar transformation, the blue-veined tan flesh of Shukaku sloughing off of his body, revealing the Kazekage underneath. Gaara threw out one hand imperiously, his expression changing from anger to shock when nothing happened. "What have you done?" he demanded.

Deidara stepped into the circle formed by the sealing array, katana in hand. "We've taken away your trump card, un. All that inexhaustible jinchuuriki chakra doesn't mean squat in a space where all chakra flow, no matter the source, is cut off."

Gaara wasn't stupid. He processed the implications of that immediately, and ran away from Deidara and towards the edge of the circle. He almost made it, too, but he'd never been a sprinter, relying on sand shunshin for speed when he needed it. It was a foot race, and Deidara caught up with him well short of the ring's edge. Gaara shuddered when a meter of steel plunged through his back and out his belly. His wide, black-ringed tanuki eyes stared dumbly at the bloody blade protruding from his gut, and his hands gripped it for a moment as through to push it back out.

"It hurts," the jinchuuriki of the One Tail murmured. Then his strength failed and he passed out, slumping forward.

Deidara caught him, carefully extricating the blade along its path of entry, then lowering him to the stone in a growing pool of blood. Sasori and Naegi let the seal fade and moved to join him, papering Gaara's prone form with several sealing tags before Sasori started healing the wound.

Kankuro, Temari, Sira and Poe caught up with them as the wound slowly closed. The siblings just stared, plainly shaken to see their invincible juggernaut of a brother laid low. "What now?" Kankuro asked into the silence.

"Sabaku no Gaara troubles Sunagakure no more, un," was Deidara's answer. He reached into his pouches and after a moment more clay flowed from his hands, forming a large white bird. Deidara and the masked Naegi carried Gaara onto its back. Once they were settled the bird flapped its wings and took to the air, bearing its passengers and cargo north.

Kankuro shook his head and then looked around the battle zone. A flash of white and red caught his eye, and he wandered over to it, picking up the peaked hat of the Kazekage, discarded in the battle by his brother. Looking at it, he felt a strange mix of relief and pain; relief that he didn't have to live every day in fear of Gaara anymore, and regret that he hadn't been able to do what a big brother should and protect his sibling. Nothing could have saved Gaara once their father damned him before he was even born.

Catching Sasori's eye, Kankuro gave the older puppeteer a bitter look and held up the hat. "So what's next, the triumphant return of the exile Sasori as the Rokudaime Kazekage?" He threw the hat to Sasori, who caught if out of the air.

Sasori considered the ornate headpiece before shaking his head. "I think not. As proud as I'd be to serve Sunagakure again, I'm a spymaster, not a leader. There are too many people I'd have to kill to take power that we're going to need in the years to come. Besides, the other villages would fall on Sunagakure like a pack of wolves if I wore this. No, the Akatsuki will take the blame for the 'murder' of the Kazekage, so it's best that the title stay in the Sabaku clan." With that, he tossed the hat back to Kankuro.

"Me?" Kankuro demanded incredulously.

"There's no one better qualified," Sasori replied seriously.

"After this," Kankuro spread his hands to indicate the dead ANBU and ravaged aqueduct, "I'll be lucky if the village council doesn't execute me for failing to stop it, even if they don't suspect I was involved, which they probably do."

Sasori shrugged. "The fault for this day's events won't fall on you. You'll be the only one who can say he fought the Akatsuki and lived when so many died. As to their suspicions… those who have them won't be able to act on them. That, at least, is within my power."

Kankuro was silent for a long moment. "I won't be your puppet, Sasori," he said finally.

Sasori nodded agreeably. "But you will listen to my advice," the red-haired Akatsuki countered. "Sunagakure stands at a dangerous crossroads now, and you need both my help and my information. Orochimaru and the other kages must continue to believe that our village remains committed to their alliance."

He looked at his sister, his gaze unreadable, then back at the elder puppet master. "Our deal was Gaara for Temari, and I've fulfilled that bargain. If you think I'm throwing my lot in with the Akatsuki, you're mistaken."

Temari nodded in agreement. "You're always talking about what's best for the village, Sasori. The alliance with the other villages has been good for the village."

"It's been good for the Sabaku," Sasori replied sharply. "How many shinobi and citizens of Sunagakure have died for no greater crime than being seen as an obstacle to Gaara or your father?"

Kankuro sighed. "I never agreed with the overzealous internal security, and with Wasp dead hopefully those excesses can die with her. But Temari's right too, Sasori; thanks to the alliance Sunagakure has prospered in the last three decades more than at any time since the village's founding. The common people as well as us; food's stayed cheap for three decades because we can import from the Lands of Earth and Fire. That was never possible when we were at war with them every few years. I don't know what you're planning, but I won't set Sunagakure on a course that would lead to conflict with Rock and Leaf. They'd crush us and you know it."

"The alliance is already doomed," Sasori informed Kankuro quietly. "Gaara was only the first step, Kankuro. The Akatsuki will break the tyranny of the kages. You can position yourself to be the first to embrace the new order that will follow, or you can stand against it and meet the same fate as the other tyrants. Yagura will be the next to fall, but it won't stop with him. This doesn't end until no village has to fear the capricious whims of its kage. I believe you can be a Kazekage who can serve and protect the people of the village if you choose, a Kazekage like the Shodai and Nidaime. Are you that man, Kankuro?"

"I will do what I must to protect the people of Sunagakure, Sasori. On that point alone we are in agreement. But you're not my friend and you're not my ally. You've held my sister hostage for three years, and used her to blackmail me. You think you've taken my measure, Sasori, but I know something of yours as well. Your lofty ideals and your actions don't always dovetail as neatly as you think."

Holding up the Kazekage's hat, he gazed steadily at Sasori. "I'll take this damn job because you're right; there is no one else I trust to do it. But make no mistake. I won't lead Sunagakure into certain destruction at the hands of the alliance. On the day you ask me to do that, or take any other action that unnecessarily endangers the village I _will_ refuse."

Sasori considered that, and nodded. "That is acceptable. But don't fool yourself, Kankuro. The day is coming when the alliance will begin to crumble, or make demands of you that would harm the village. It's coming sooner than you think, and on that day you will have to make a choice. For your sake and the village's, it had better be the right one."

Kankuro exhaled slowly. "All right. I guess I'd better get back to the village before a patrol finds all this."

"We all should return to Sunagakure, yes," Sasori agreed.

"Pardon me?" Kankuro raised an eyebrow. "Traitor," he pointed at Sasori. "Dead, and also traitors," he pointed at Poe and Sira, who flinched slightly. "Captured by the enemy and presumed dead," he finished with Temari. "I couldn't get you through the gates if I was insane enough to try. Temari I can slip back in once the fallout from tonight settles. The rest of you, no."

"You're overlooking the obvious, Kankuro," Sasori pointed out, walking over to the corpses of the fallen ANBU. He picked up Wasp's bloody mask, wiped it mostly clean, and tossed it to Temari, who caught it with distaste. He retrieved two more undamaged rank and file masks, giving them to Poe and Sira before taking Baki's one-eyed Camel mask for himself.

"You're joking," Kankuro growled.

"Why not? The Kazekage alone knows the identity of his ANBU captains, and you've got two to replace. Those captains in turn pick their own teams, and I imagine Wasp will be recruiting a pair of new faces, won't she?" Temari grimaced, but nodded reluctantly.

"No, I mean you're joking if you think I intend to let you infiltrate ANBU," Kankuro continued.

"If I wished to infiltrate ANBU you'd never know, pup," Sasori growled. "I've done it twice since my exile began. I'll wear this mask to make sure you live long enough to do your duty for the village."

"And to keep an eye on me," Kankuro observed sarcastically.

"Of course," Sasori admitted. "I'm not a fool, Kankuro. I think you're a better man than your father and brother, but you're still a Sabaku, and I have no reason to trust you fully yet."

Kankuro grunted. "Fine. At least this way I'll know where to find you."

Sasori smiled faintly. "I'm touched. Now, you were right, you should return. We'll make our own way into the village. One that doesn't involve the gate."

* * *

The extraction of Shukaku from Sabaku no Gaara was more difficult than the previous jinchuuriki had been, simply because of the number of members who were absent. Sasori was busy securing the Akatsuki's foothold in Sunagakure, and both Kisami and Itachi were deep in enemy territory, unable to attend even as projected images. Tobi was also missing, with no explanation offered for his absence, though the Leader didn't seem to be perturbed. Because of the stresses and complexity of performing an extraction with the numbers they had, Tenten – minus her 'Naegi' mask – and Zetsu were excluded as well.

Deidara, Konan, Kakuzu and Hidan were thus perched on their respective fingers of the statue, while not just the Leader's usual body but all six Paths occupied the other fingers. It was an eerie assembly, and the shocking amount of chakra that the Leader poured into the extraction reminded everyone present why, in an organization composed of the strongest shinobi in the Elemental Nations, he was the one who led them.

Still, it was an energy-intensive process, and when the last of Shukaku's essence was swallowed by the statue and Gaara's corpse fell lifeless to the stone floor, all of the participating members looked drawn and exhausted. Konan and the Paths made their weary way into the section of the base that only the two of them ever entered, and Hidan and Kakuzu slunk off to recover their energy. Zetsu picked up the corpse of the dead Kazekage and went his own way.

With her arm around his waist and his around her shoulder, Tenten guided Deidara through the halls to his chambers. Despite his protestations she prepared dinner for him and then shepherded him into bed. Shedding her Akatsuki cloak she sat down on the bed beside him, watching his eyes drift shut. She thought he'd fallen asleep when his eyes opened again and he looked at her for a moment before chuckling. "It seems Gaara got the last laugh, un," he observed with amusement.

Tenten blinked. "How so?"

"I haven't seen you in a year. Now here you are right in front of me, but thanks to that jinchuuriki bastard I'm too tired and chakra depleted to pin you to this bed and have my wicked way with you," Deidara complained.

Tenten stared at him for a second before she started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Deidara complained, sounding slightly hurt.

"You are," Tenten answered, mirth dancing in her eyes as she sat up, climbing on top of him in a single smooth motion, her braid of brown hair dangling over her shoulder and tickling his face with the waving tip. Her brown eyes became dark and intent enough to make him swallow hard as she lowered her face to within inches of his, her hands pinning his wrists to the bed on either side of his head. "Because _I_ haven't seen _you_ in a year, and here you are yummy and helpless right in front of me," she lowered her lips and kissed him deeply, aggressively, "and _I'm_ certainly not tired enough," she kissed him again, "to hold back from pinning _you_ to this bed," another kiss, "and having _my_ wicked way with you." Smirking, she leaned back, her gaze never breaking from his as her fingers started working his trousers loose.

Tenten could see the lust in his eyes when she divested him of his pants, heard his breath catch when her hands brushed against him and found at least one part of his body that didn't seem tired at all, but he looked hesitant, too. "I didn't think you'd…" he trailed off.

"Didn't think I'd want to have you like this?" Tenten guessed, and the flicker in his eyes told her she'd hit the mark. She almost felt hurt, but remembered that while she'd been the one to kiss him first, when it came to the bedroom she'd always let him take the leading role. "No. I suppose it's been easier for me to reciprocate instead of initiate, but it's not like you've ever held back enough to give me a chance," she teased him, opening his under tunic and running her hands over his chest. "I've dreamed of being with you like this. I still think about you every day," she told him simply, slowly stripping out of her own clothes, giving him a show. "Sometimes I want you so badly it hurts," she continued as she shed her clothes until she was nude before him, _and that's a horrible thing for a married woman to say to another man, but there it is._

"So just relax," Tenten told Deidara, her voice faintly naughty, "and let me do _all_ the work." Sliding back to better position herself, she lowered her head to take him in her mouth. She teased him with her lips and tongue until he was hard and ready and pleading, then crawled back up to straddle his waist and lower herself onto him, riding him to climax.

In the aftermath they lay together in a sweaty tangle of skin and sheets. She watched him looking back at her with a strange expression, bemused and intense at once. "What?" Tenten inquired quizzically.

"I love you," he replied simply. "Everything about you."

"I love you, too," she replied. _Even though I don't deserve to._

No more words were spoken. In minutes, Deidara's exhaustion claimed him, his eyes sliding shut and his breathing slowing. Tenten watched him sleep for almost an hour, her mind whirling with thoughts both near and far. Eventually she felt weariness steal over her as well, brought on by a long and uninterrupted period of wakefulness and the steady depletion of chakra brought about simply by existing in her current state. Tenten planted one last kiss on Deidara's cheek and saw him smile in his sleep. Then her eyes closed. Moments later she vanished in a puff of odorless white smoke that dissipated almost instantly, leaving the blond bomber alone in his bed.

* * *

A nation away, Tenten was woken from a sound sleep by the dissolution of her shadow clone, her eyes snapping open and a sharp gasp escaping her lips as the clone's days of memories hit her like a punch to the gut. Dissolving from simple unconsciousness was the gentlest way to end a shadow clone's existence, so the dissonance wasn't as bad as it would have been if the clone had suffered a violent death, but it was still several days' worth of memories flooding her mind in an instant.

Her duties and visibility as Lady Hyuuga meant that Tenten couldn't leave Konohagakure in person anymore to assist the Akatsuki, but as the organization's second most skilled fuuinjutsu and earth ninjutsu master, her abilities were occasionally needed in a support capacity. When that happened she filled a shadow clone with most of her chakra and sent it off with Zetsu. It would cost her if she actually had to fight while depleted to that level, but since she rarely left Konohagakure at all and was surrounded by Hyuuga warriors and retainers whenever she did, it was a small risk.

Tenten felt her cheeks turning crimson as she experienced one of the other problems with letting a shadow clone operate for that long without dispelling. They weren't openly rebellious, but did tend to become increasingly independent minded after the first day or so. _I can't believe she/I did that!_ Tenten thought furiously as memories of the clone's aggressive seduction of the blond bomber unreeled in her head. The last thing Deidara needed was encouragement like that.

_Hypocrite,_ she could almost hear the dispelled clone reply. _If you'd been there in the flesh you would have done the same damn thing._

Deciding not to dwell on that brutally honest thought, Tenten examined the other memories and the rest of it was positive. Gaara was dead, and Kankuro had survived the battle, so Sasori would be going ahead with his plan to install the last Sabaku male as the next Kazekage, one who, while unlikely to _like_ the Akatsuki, would cooperate with them. _One down, four to go,_ she thought silently, indulging in the pleasant thought of standing over the Hokage's dead body in the future.

Listening to Neji's slow, even breathing next to her brought Tenten back to the moment with the guilty realization that she'd probably been making love to them both at the same time, a continent apart.

_That's messed up. Even for my sinful, screwed-up love life, that's just weird,_ she decided, before putting it out of her mind and snuggling up next to her husband, willing herself back to sleep and a reprieve from the metaphorically disapproving stare of her own conscience.

* * *

_Weeks later_

Temari lay in bed in the early morning hours, her back nestled against the warmth of Kankuro's chest, his arm draped over her rib cage. She lay still, listening to him breathe, and allowed herself a moment of peace and contentment. There had been times, living in that cold stone fortress the Akatsuki hid themselves in, when she'd privately feared that she'd never get to go home to Sunagakure, never see Kankuro again, never make love to him again and lie sated in his arms. She'd worried that Katori would grow up without knowing his father.

Thinking of her son, Temari carefully slid out from Kankuro's grasp without waking him, and slipped into a light robe of pale blue silk. She crossed the room and opened a door, entering an adjoining room painted pastel blue and littered with toys to her son's bedside, a fond smile crossing her lips as she watched the toddler sleep. His hair was as dark as Kankuro's, and he had the same energy and adorably pudgy build his father had possessed at that age. Ever so gently, she ran her fingers through the sleeping boy's hair.

Katori wasn't quite sure what to make of Kankuro yet. She ached to tell the boy that the strange and intimidating man they now lived with was his papa, and she knew it ate at Kankuro not to be able to call him 'son', but they couldn't, not yet. Kankuro was the Rokudaime Kazekage, and he had been confirmed to the job as smoothly as Sasori had predicted, but they had to be circumspect.

The Kazekage bedding his new ANBU captain, and even moving her son into his apartments, was one thing; anyone who looked at the body under Wasp's mask could see the appeal. But the time wasn't right for Temari to 'return from the dead' or for Kankuro to acknowledge Katori as his heir; either revelation would raise too many awkward questions.

As it was, Temari always wore the mask outside of Kankuro's chambers, and she'd cut her hair short as well as dyeing it black to avoid any possibility of recognition. So telling Katori the truth was out of the question; he was almost three, an age where he could and did talk a great deal, but was far too young to understand the gravity of his parents' secrets.

Temari was sitting at her son's bedside and looking out the window at the first purple light of dawn staining the horizon when she felt a tickle on the edge of her mind, a familiar feeling that constituted a summons from Sasori. Initially it was an innocuous sensation, but if she went too long without responding to it the sympathetic seal would give her a blinding headache. Resisting the urge to snarl under her breath, she returned to the master bedroom and silently donned her ANBU armor and mask before leaving through the window. She made her way up onto the roof, where Sasori was waiting in his Camel mask.

"Report," he said without pleasantries.

"So far we've only heard back from the Hokage and Tsuchikage in response to the announcement of Gaara's disappearance and Kankuro's elevation. It will be days yet before we hear from Kumogakure, and weeks for a round trip to Kirigakure."

Sasori nodded. "What's your read on those responses?"

Temari was silent for a moment. "I think they're sincere in accepting Kankuro as Kazekage, and they're the two who matter. They're both probably thinking that it doesn't matter much to them, and that Kankuro is both less of a threat to them and more pliable to pressure from the alliance."

"That's a reasonable conclusion. What else?"

Temari pressed her lips together, trying to fight the next words she had to speak. She could feel sweat springing from her pores, and nausea twisting her gut. Clenching her hands into fists she remained silent until the nausea became actual pain, starting in her stomach and creeping through her body, steadily getting worse and worse. When it reached the point where she couldn't take it silently anymore she grunted and dropped to one knee as her legs gave out, clutching her chest as her heart hammered wildly.

"Out with it," Sasori commanded when he noted her distress.

"Kankuro doesn't trust you," Temari gasped, voice shaking. "He's been working on contingency plans to eliminate you, but I haven't seen any sign that he intends to implement any of them yet." When the words left her the pain and nausea faded, and her heart rate slowed to a normal level. Shakily, she got to her feet.

"Relax, Temari. I'd be disappointed if he wasn't planning to kill me," Sasori said at last. "It would indicate that he doesn't possess the guile to manage the job of Kazekage. Besides, I hardly trust him, either. You will, however, continue to urge caution as much as you can without arousing his suspicion. You know it will end poorly for Kankuro, Katori and yourself if he does something foolish."

Temari shuddered, glaring at his back as he turned away from her to watch the sunrise. She stood behind Sasori, fully armed, and for a moment she entertained the thought of driving a kunai into his back. She paid for that idle thought in the form of painful cramps in the muscles of her right hand that twisted it into a rigid claw, unsuitable for holding any weapon. The cramps didn't fade until she pushed the thought of attacking Sasori from her mind.

"He'll find out what you've done to me eventually, Sasori, and when he does I don't think I'll be able to stop him from trying to kill you." Temari said quietly, wincing at the knot of pain in her gut that even such a mildly rebellious statement produced.

"That's why it's your job to make sure that he doesn't find out, at least not until this war is over. I have faith in your skills of dissemination," Sasori replied placidly. "This story can have the ending you want, Temari. It can end with you and Kankuro happy and together, ruling Sunagakure and raising the next generation of Sabaku. But the only way you get that ending is if the rest of the kages fall as Gaara did and the tyranny of their alliance ends. Your fortunes and mine are linked now. We will succeed or perish together. Remember that."

"So I'm supposed to take it on faith that you'll release me from these damned seals when this is all over?" Temari asked bitterly. In the time she'd been Sasori's prisoner and reluctant accomplice he'd added to the array of mental fuuinjutsu seals shackling her mind. The obedience seal remained, with other linked seals that wove a tighter web of control around her, inflicting punishing physiological reactions when she did or said anything she knew to be against Sasori's will, which he had expressed to her in great detail.

She was his insurance policy against Kankuro, one that Temari knew her brother would never see coming. Kankuro was an excellent shinobi, but his love for her blinded him to suspicion. That would prove disastrous if he did try to move against Sasori, because she had orders to stop him, and she was depressingly certain she wouldn't be able to fight the programming Sasori had filled her head with long enough to make a difference. For all intents and purposes he'd turned her into a living puppet, bound to his will with fuuinjutsu instead of chakra strings, but with little more independence than his wooden toys when he gave her a direct order.

"You can choose to believe or not. It doesn't change the fact that you don't have a choice. I meant what I said when we met, Temari. You'll be free of me when you and Kankuro have undone the damage your brother and father have inflicted on this village. Until then you will _obey_. Am I understood?"

Sasori's sharp words hit her like hammer blows, and Temari shivered. "I understand," she grated.

"Good. Now return to your lover's bed before he wakes and wonders where you've gone."

Temari ground her teeth at the curt dismissal in his tone and his condescension towards her forbidden relationship with her brother. _You act like you're better than us Sasori, but what you've done to me, stealing my free will, puts a lie to all of your grandiose rhetoric. _For a moment she was tempted to express that thought aloud, but the moment passed and she decided she probably wouldn't be able to keep breakfast down if she triggered the obedience seal again. Silently she vanished from the rooftop, leaving Sasori alone to greet the sunrise.

* * *

Uchiha Amaya took one last look around the small apartment that had been her home for the last three years. It was once again as bare and utilitarian as it had been when she arrived. Most of her possessions were already in a crate in the back of a trade caravan's wagon, and would make their way home to Konohagakure. She'd probably beat them there, but if that meant she didn't have to carry all of it, she could live with that.

Shouldering her travel pack filled with the things she was going to carry with her, she closed the door and headed out of the Lightning Daimyo's massive barracks with the familiar ease of a long-time resident. She'd spent more than half of the last three years elsewhere, either doing work for her employer of escorting some member of the royal family as a bodyguard, but she'd been in the capital long enough to learn her way around the labyrinthine palace that had become as familiar to her as the Uchiha compound.

Reaching the parade ground in front of the barracks, Amaya looked around and found it largely unoccupied in the early morning light save for a few palace pages and enlisted soldiers bustling across the vast expanse with urgent messages or tasks. Leaning against the pedestal supporting one of the massive statues of a long-dead general ringing the parade ground, Amaya set down her pack to wait for Kaede.

Perhaps ten minutes later Amaya heard footsteps behind her, and turned to see Kaede emerging from a different wing of the palace. She still wore the lensed half-mask that a few members of her clan like the enigmatic Aburame Torune favored, and the flowing blouse and slacks in the style of the Land of Lightning that she had adopted over the traditional Aburame greatcoat. At seventeen, Kaede was not much taller than she'd been at fourteen, and thought her figured had filled out a bit as she matured, the Aburame girl had resigned herself to being tiny and cute forever. Her head only came up to Amaya's collar bone now.

For her part, Amaya wore an outfit similar to what she'd worn at Tenten-sensei's wedding, a form-fitting sleeveless top and hip-hugging pants, though they were both black today instead of the Uchiha blue-and-tan. She wore a travel cloak over them to keep the dust off, and hopefully hide her increasingly generous figure from the stares of random men on the road. Amaya had accepted the undeniable evidence that while she certainly had the hair and distinct facial features of an Uchiha, she had not been gifted with the typical Uchiha body type. Most women born into the clan tended towards short and slender. Amaya was already taller than most of her relatives, even Sasuke, and she had definitely inherited her mother's full figure.

Amaya's mother had passed away when she was only four years old, so her memories were hazy, but she had pictures, a small book full of them that the madam of the brothel had given her when her grandparents came to claim her after her mother's death. Her mother had been a beautiful woman, with long, wavy red hair and a figure almost as generous as Kikiyo, Amaya's boss for the last three years, though her mother's skin had been fair as cream with a dusting of freckles and laughing green eyes. She looked young and beautiful and perfect in most of the pictures, though some of the most recent ones taken in the early stages of the illness that had killed Amaya's mother her face had been lined and drawn, her eyes duller than earlier.

Amaya broke out of her reverie as Kaede joined her in the shadow of the statue. Walking beside Kaede, with her hand securely grasped in his, was Kutsuku Kiran, her fiancée.

Kiran was nineteen to Kaede's seventeen, and half a head taller than his bride-to-be. His pale blonde hair was almost as long as Amaya's, woven into dozens of slender braids that fell almost to his knees. His skin was pale, his eyes were as blue as the morning sky, and his face was striking. He was a handsome man, almost pretty, and the rouge covering his upper eyelids and extending past the corners of his eyes only accentuated his notable but still masculine beauty. He was dressed richly, in gold-embroidered silks of a light gray that matched the hue of Kaede's simpler clothes. He looked like he was dressed for an audience with the daimyo, but Amaya knew these were actually among the least ornate clothes he owned.

Kiran was the heir of the Kutsuku Clan, a family that had lived in Sky City since the time of its founding, and owned the vast cloud forest that grew in the crater below the city. Investigating the deaths of several of Kiran's relatives had been Kaede's first mission as part of the daimyo's Royal Guard, and she had handled it professionally and successfully, discovering that the culprits were not human at all, but a fast-breeding and aggressive species of giant spider. The arachnids were similar to the overgrown arachnids that occupied Konohagakure's Forbidden Forest, and after destroying the nest the creatures had established with the aid of an assault team from Kumogakure, Kaede had stayed in Sky City to determine how the spiders – which were not native to the Land of Lightning – had been introduced. Over the course of that mission she had met and worked with Kiran, son of the clan's patriarch and next in line to assume leadership.

The Kutsuku were a curious family. At one time they had been powerful shinobi, insect users like the Aburame but specializing in butterflies and moths. They might still be a warrior clan were it not for a curiosity of commerce: their clan techniques were discovered to make them extraordinarily adept at handling silkworms, creatures both valuable and difficult to raise. What started out as a hobby of a clan of shinobi quickly became so lucrative that they no longer needed money from sending their sons and daughters on dangerous missions, and over time they became a merchant clan. Most of them still had significant chakra reserves, but few of them ever trained as shinobi anymore, restricting themselves to the secret techniques that helped their silkworms to thrive. Kiran was an exception, his chakra reserves and natural talent in combat impressive enough that he had been the first of his clan in two generations to go to Kumogakure for ninja training.

Kiran had never advanced past the rank of genin, though both Amaya and Kaede knew he would have if he had not returned home to fulfill his obligation to the family business. It was then that his path had crossed Kaede's. In the course of their investigation they discovered that a rival conglomerate of silk producers in the Land of Earth had sent shinobi to seed the cloud forest with spider eggs in a deliberate attempt to ruin the Kutsuku Clan. Those same shinobi had attempted to kill both of them to preserve their secrets. Kaede had saved Kiran's life in that battle, and he hers, and when the dust settled they were victorious.

A friendship followed, once which bloomed into a courtship that took the court of the Lightning Daimyo by surprise. It hadn't taken Amaya long to realize that her stoic friend was as smitten with the exotic foreigner as he was with her, nor had it taken her long to decide that Kiran would be good for Kaede. He excelled at drawing the shy Aburame girl out of her shell without making her incomfortable.

None of that stopped Amaya from experiencing quite a bit of amusement at the consequences of Kiran's courtship of Kaede turning into a betrothal once the Aburame and Kutsuku sent representatives to talk and work out a contract.

Kiran was handsome, courtly and _rich_. When his father passed away he would become one of the wealthiest men in the Land of Lightning. Those factors had combined to make him perhaps the most eligible bachelor in the country. The collective jealousy and rage of the Land of Lightning's young women who fancied themselves social climbers was breathtaking when they realized that this plain-looking foreign shinobi had stolen the heart of a man that many of them had dreamed of seducing themselves.

Kaede had been adorably clueless about why the female half of the daimyo's court suddenly hated her. It had been entertaining up until the first poisoning attempt. After that Amaya had taken steps, with Kikiyo's quiet approval. A few late night visits to supposedly secure noble compounds and some graphic threats had reined in the most enthusiastic of Kaede's detractors. The ruthless young woman who'd been behind the actual attempt on Kaede's life had suffered a mysterious and very public nervous breakdown, and rumor said she was still secluded in a remote country estate and was reduced to hysterical tears at the very sight of the color red.

Amaya supposed it was ironic that shy, socially awkward Kaede was happily engaged, while she herself hadn't been nearly so blessed. Which was not to say that Amaya had lacked for male attention in the Land of Lightning; quite the opposite had been the case. For most of her life boys had been more scared by her name than anything else, and Isamu Ken had been the only one who had ever really looked at her as a person and as a girl. But once her boobs had gotten big enough that she couldn't hide them under chest wrappings anymore, boys (and men) were following her around like dogs. Amaya wasn't naïve enough to think the two facts were unrelated, but after the novelty wore off it was just annoying. She wasn't real to any of them, wasn't a person. They saw her as a conquest, a beautiful kunoichi with a dangerous name. So she shut out all of them and tried to ignore the way most men looked at her.

"Are you two lovebirds ready to go?" Amaya asked lightly.

Kaede and Kiran exchanged a painfully sappy look before nodding. "I believe so."

"Good. I hope we won't set too hard a pace for you, your Highness," Amaya said to Kiran with a grin. He favored her with a regal look of icy disapproval that was only slightly spoiled by a gleam of amusement in his eyes.

"I can keep up any pace you can set," he countered.

Amaya liked Kiran, and got along well with him. He'd recognized almost immediately how important Amaya was to Kaede, and had made every effort to befriend her. Amaya had been more than happy to get to know him. Not only was he smart and fun to be around, but he didn't stare at her chest, and he made Kaede happy; all good things in Amaya's book.

They crossed the parade ground to the outer gate, where a familiar figure waited for them, a voluptuous woman in blue silk trimmed with ermine. "Just a minute, you two," Kikiyo said, stepping into their path as they neared.

"Yes commander?" Amaya and Kaede asked in unison.

"I'm not your commander anymore, girls," Kikiyo replied with a smile. "But I do have one last duty. It's custom to offer a parting gift to Royal Guards who serve well, and both of you have done that and more."

"First, you're entitled to wear these whenever you please, as a mark of honor and the daimyo's favor," Kikiyo continued, extending to Amaya and Kaede each a small jewelry box. The girls took them with a bow, and opened them. Inside was a simple earring, a small golden teardrop. Amaya and Kaede exchanged a look. The previous day they'd turned in similar earrings to Kikiyo, though those had been made of steel, and marked the wearer as a member of the Lightning Daimyo's guard. "They're the same ones you've worn for the last three years," Kikiyo confirmed, "coated in gold to mark the completion of your term of service."

"Thank you, Kikiyo-sama," both girls murmured, putting on the earrings.

"In addition, most departing members of the Royal Guard are offered a parting bonus. Usually it's just a sack of gold, but one of you is marrying into a lot of money, and the other's never cared much for the stuff, so Raishi and I found something better suited to each of you."

First Kikiyo extended a book to Kaede, a leather-bound tome with very old writing in flaking silver engraving down the spine. "This is from the daimyo's library," she explained, "and I think you may enjoy it." Kaede carefully opened the book and flipped through several pages, gasping at what she found. Writing in an elegant hand was interspersed with detailed and artistic sketches and diagrams of various insects. "That was actually written by one of your fiancé's ancestors shortly after the founding of the Land of Lightning. It was the first entomological survey of the Land of Lightning, and remains among the best."

Even through the dark lenses of her mask Amaya could see Kaede's eyes go wide with shock. "I'm overwhelmed…" she said at last. "But I can't take this; it belongs here."

Kikiyo waved a hand in dismissal. "There are countless copies in existence. We're not losing the knowledge. Besides, I believe it will find its way back to the Land of Lightning eventually, if my understanding of your betrothal is accurate."

Kaede paused and then nodded in acceptance. "I will treasure it. Thank you." Kikiyo was right about the likelihood of the book returning, to Sky City if not the capital. Kiran was travelling with them to Konohagakure because during the betrothal negotiations he'd insisted on spending some time living with the Aburame, but given his status relative to Kaede's, it had been agreed that once they were wed, which would be shortly after Kaede's eighteenth birthday, she would be returning to Sky City with him. Amaya wasn't thrilled about that part, her best friend moving so far away from Konohagakure, but when she saw how Kaede looked at Kiran she couldn't find it in her heart to be bitter.

"As for you, Amaya…" Kikiyo removed from the sash at her waist a short, curved sword, the hilt wrapped in black boar hide and the blade sheathed in a scabbard of polished red wood. "You've learned the sword far better than most Leaf ninja ever bother to. Raishi and I both thought you should take home a better class of blade."

Amaya nodded as she took the proffered sword from Kikiyo, not offended in the least by the older woman's comment on the tanto currently resting over her shoulder. It was a solid, workmanlike sword, but a far cry from a master's weapon. Gripping the hilt of the new blade, Amaya drew it from its sheath, and on revealing a hand span of the blade, her eyes widened in surprise. The steel had a silvery sheen that was almost like an inner light, and a wavy grain that was unmistakable. "This is starforged, isn't it?" Amaya said in awe.

Kikiyo nodded. "I'm honored," Amaya said earnestly. Starforged steel was quenched in water suffused with the otherworldly chakra of the meteor that had once belonged to Hoshigakure. It retained its razor edge without sharpening, and was sufficiently keen to break most other blades. The ability to make weapons of starforged steel was one of Kumogakure's greatest military assets, and there was a total trade ban on selling even a single starforged kunai outside of the Land of Lightning's borders. The metal was rare even in Lightning, and outside of the nation the only way to obtain it was by taking a piece in battle, or by special dispensation from the Raikage or Lightning daimyo.

"Use it well," Kikiyo replied simply, and Amaya nodded, bowing again to the older woman before slipping off her pack and placing the blade inside carefully, in a sheltered pouch next to the book of poetry Prince Raidon had given her as a parting gift.

After a moment of silence, Kikiyo clapped her hands once. "Well, off with you! I'm sure your Hokage is as anxious to have the pair of you back as I am sad to lose you."

"Thank you, Kikiyo-sama," they both said before departing.

* * *

When Amaya, Kaede and Kiran were a few days out from the capital, they were travelling along a well-maintained road paralleling a river running through the bottom of a wide canyon that served as one of the main trade arteries between Lightning and Fire. It was highly traveled trade route, and they'd already passed a few caravans since daybreak, some headed northeast towards the capital and Kumogakure, others headed southwest like them towards the Land of Fire. As a result of the highly trafficked nature of the road, none of the three young shinobi was aware of being watched from a distance.

High on the cliff above the road a woman of advanced years crouched on the canyon lip, her shoulder length, iron-gray hair stirring in the wind and her hard, dark brown eyes peering through a set of binoculars at the road below. Despite her age and a deeply lined and tanned face like cracked leather, her body was fit and even muscular, and she wore her armor well, light gray plates over a black bodysuit.

When the old woman lowered her binoculars and retreated from the canyon edge a pair of men, both much younger than her, stepped up beside her. Both were built like walking boulders, thick limbs and torsos with short bull necks and shaven heads. They wore the same style of armor as the older woman, though their armor plates were larger and heavier, covering most of their bodies while hers only protected the torso and thighs.

"It's them," the old woman said finally. She allowed herself a hard smile, and the eyes of the men she faced lit up with dreadful eagerness. "Go tell your brothers, and start getting the mercenaries into position. It's been a long time, but the day of our revenge has come at last."

"Yes, mother," both men replied eagerly, before taking a few steps back and melting into the rock face behind them, disappearing without a trace.

The old woman paused for a moment, closing her fist around a small silver locket hanging from her neck. She flicked it open for a moment and looked at the picture inside, her hard face softening for a moment in a mixture of tenderness and pain. The moment passed, and her face returned to impassivity. She closed to locket again and slipped it underneath the neck of her bodysuit. Then she sank into the ground, disappearing as smoothly as her sons.


	31. Lady Hyuuga

**Chapter 31: Lady Hyuuga**

* * *

"They can't be serious. They expect Hinata to marry _him?_" Hyuuga Tenten said incredulously in response to her husband's revelation of what the clan elders intended to announce at the clan conclave assembling that evening.

"They are serious," Hyuuga Neji replied heavily. "To them it's all about power and prestige, you know that. On paper it's a good match." Neji leaned back with a sigh.

Tenten shook her head in disbelief, her hair in its long, thick braid that hung to her waist swishing across her back. She had largely abandoned her traditional buns unless she was working out, and most days she wore formal, horribly expensive silk kimonos elaborate enough that servants helped her into them rather than the more practical clothes she still preferred but didn't get to wear very often anymore. It was all about image, and dressing as a clan leader's wife was expected to earned her more respect, so it was a sacrifice worth making.

"No one benefits if Hinata doesn't survive her wedding night," Tenten said in frustration. "He's a sociopath and they know it! This is more likely to hurt the clan than help it."

"They claim his mental stability has improved since he was a genin; he's been in a position of trust and performed well for years. His father's as anxious for this match as our elders are."

"But Namikaze Naruto?" Tenten repeated incredulously. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "They know what he did to Sakura even if no one in this village wants to talk about it. Let's say he doesn't outright terrorize Hinata; can you remotely imagine this making her happy or even being tolerable?" It was bad enough on the surface and Tenten reminded herself that it was even worse underneath.

News of Gaara's fall had reached Konohagakure weeks ago, and while she wasn't directly apprised of the plans against Yagura, she suspected the Mizukage's days were numbered. The time was coming when the Akatsuki's heavy hitters would be making a move against Hinata's prospective groom, and the last thing Tenten wanted was her sister-in-law getting caught in the crossfire of _that_ battle.

"I don't like it any more than you do Tenten, but we can't fight them on this," Neji admitted. "We have to pick our battles with the clan elders, and we'll lose this one. There are enough elders supporting it to overrule me if I oppose it. The elders who told me about it are our allies on most issues, but even they're going to vote for it. This betrothal has the backing of the Hokage and the village council. You and I both know what Naruto's capable of, but we can't bring it up without insulting him and the Hokage, and that's something we can't do lightly." He sighed heavily "I never dreamed the elders would do something like this when I agreed to let them have their way."

Tenten sighed, acknowledging Neji's point and feeling some of the guilt she knew he must be experiencing, because he was right. Neji would have more ammunition to fight the insane choice the Hyuuga elders had made if not for the bargain that had allowed them to wed.

"We have to tell her, Neji," Tenten said at last.

Neji chuckled humorlessly. "I'm not supposed to know about it yet."

"Doesn't matter," Tenten said firmly. "It would be cruel for her to find out in front of the entire clan. If we can't stop this the least we can do is tell her ourselves."

"You're right, of course," Neji admitted. Picking up a bell from his desk he rang it quietly. The paneled door slid open, revealing a young woman of the branch family kneeling outside, pale eyes attentive beneath the green mark of the Caged Bird Seal on her forehead. "Kala, please inform Lady Hinata we'd like to see her at her earliest convenience."

"Yes, my Lord," she said quietly, sliding the door closed and departing.

Tenten and Neji passed the time discussing some other items that were going to come up at the clan meeting until the door opened again and Hinata entered the room, bowing respectfully to them and taking a seat before them, eyes downcast. At first Tenten had been appalled by the change in her sister-in-law's manner after the wedding, and had tried to convince Hinata that her deference wasn't necessary, but the former heiress had been politely insistent in her refusal.

"I'm sorry Tenten, it's not about you," Hinata had explained. "I don't want to give the elders reason to take me to task for not showing the proper respect to the clan leader and his wife, and they would punish me given the slightest excuse." Hinata allowed herself an amused smile. "The elders feel that if they have to bow to you everyone else had damned well better be doing it too."

While Neji shuffled some papers on his desk, Tenten studied her sister-in-law. She guessed that Hinata had been about to leave for a mission or training, because she wore her jacket and loose pants over mesh armor rather than indoor clothes.

"Hinata, the elders are going to make an announcement tonight that concerns you," Neji began. "We wanted to let you know ahead of time that it's coming."

Tenten watched Hinata study her face and while neither of them gave much away in their expressions and carriage, Hinata had always been good at reading people. "I'm supposed to be leaving on a scouting mission with Kiba tonight, but I guess he can take Shino instead. How bad is it?"

"They've negotiated a betrothal for you, Hinata," Tenten admitted.

Hinata took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "I understand," she said quietly. "I'm twenty-two; I've been expecting that they'd find me a husband for a few years now. I suppose I should be grateful I've been able to stay an active kunoichi as long as I have." She looked back and forth between Neji and Tenten. "Okay, drop the other shoe. You're both upset. Is he old or ugly? Does he live far away?"

Tenten sighed, and Neji gripped her hand under the table. "No, it's none of those. The betrothal is to Namikaze Naruto."

Hinata went as white as a sheet, and her hands shook for a moment before she clasped her knees. "H-him?" The question was faint, almost disbelieving, and Tenten suppressed a wince. Hinata had made huge strides in eliminating her stammer over the last few years, but it still came back when she was stressed enough.

Tenten felt absolutely miserable as she watched Hinata slowly bottle up her fear and revulsion like a good shinobi, distancing herself from it until her hands were steady and her complexion was more normal. "I-I understand," she said again, her tone flat, mechanical. "Th-the elders ha-have made th-their ch-choice to benefit the clan. Th-Thank you for letting m-me know before the conclave."

Hinata looked like a woman informed of her own execution, and something in Tenten snapped. "Fuck this," she snarled, drawing startled looks from both Hyuuga. "Neji, we can't let them do this. Not without a fight." Tenten shook her head firmly. "I won't let them do this without arguing against it. I don't care if those old bastards think less of me. This is a bad idea, it's selling out one of our own, and being 'politically advantageous' isn't enough to make a silk purse out of this sow's ear. This is Hinata's future we're talking about."

Neji looked like he wanted to object, his lips moving silently before stopping. His shoulders drooped slightly. "You're right, Tenten," he admitted. "I don't think we'll be able to overrule them, but we can try." Sitting up, he started shuffling through some of the documents on his desk. "There's no way all of the elders are firmly behind this. If I can identify a few of them who are willing to break ranks in exchange for something they want, then maybe…"

"No." Tenten and Neji both looked at Hinata and were surprised to hear her voice firm again. She wore a resolute expression on her face before she ducked her head respectfully. "I _do_ understand," she repeated, emphasizing those words. "I'm happy that you're willing to do that for me, but I remember the lessons father taught me. Neji, you can't give any of the elders a hold over you, not for this. If you do they'll own you for years, and who knows what they might get away with then?"

"Hinata, why do I have this position and power if not to curb the worst excesses of the elders? Hiashi asked me to protect you and Hanabi when he made me his heir," Neji argued.

Hinata shook her head. "You need to think about the whole clan, not just me, Neji. The next evaluation of the branch family is coming soon, and you need to retain whatever political capital and favors you have for that. If the elders are unopposed in the evaluation a lot more members of the clan will suffer than just me."

Neji was silent for a moment. "She has a point, Tenten," he admitted. "I've seen the plans they're working on for the evaluation in the spring, and some of them are just as atrocious."

Tenten nodded, rubbing the bridge of her nose to ward off an oncoming headache. Among the Hyuuga it wasn't just the main family that was subjected to arranged marriages; under their authority to 'preserve the integrity of the byakugan across generations', the clan's elders decided who virtually every Hyuuga, main or branch, would marry. As with Hinata's marriage and his own Neji could advise the elders and veto some decisions in truly drastic cases, but he couldn't dictate to them, and if he opposed too many of their choices he risked uniting the elder council's factions against him, at which point they could override him and do as they pleased. Hiashi's father had managed to alienate the elders, and been little more than a figurehead for most of his life.

"Are you sure about this, Hinata?" Tenten pressed. "You know what… what Naruto's capable of." _You know that he's the Hokage's weapon and a sadistic rapist who brutalized and disfigured our friend._

"I am sure," Hinata said firmly before making a face. "I'm not thrilled, mind you, but the more I think about it, the more I think I can handle it. Orochimaru or Naruto want something from our clan and they don't get whatever it is if my groom manages to kill me on my wedding night." Her face hardened then. "I'm also a lot more capable than Sakura was as a genin. I won't let him abuse me; he'll have to kill me if he tries, and that can't be the outcome Naruto wants."

Neji's pale eyes were cold as he nodded. "All right. We'll respect your decision, but the offer stands. We will fight this, all you have to do is ask, Hinata."

"Count on it," Tenten agreed firmly. It wasn't much, but it was all they could do as long as Hinata remained resolute. Tenten sighed. She didn't like it, hated it in fact, but she should have expected this kind of selflessness from Hinata. "I'm sorry, Hinata," she said quietly. "You shouldn't have to do this." _I will find a way to keep you safe when the day comes that we put Naruto down like the mad dog he is._

As Tenten made her silent vow, Hinata glanced at the door to make sure it was closed and then moved around the table, wrapping up Tenten and Neji in a hug. "Thank you," she whispered. "I never expected to marry a man who would love me. Knowing that my family does is enough."

Tenten felt tears on her face, and saw even Neji's iron control cracking as they hugged Hinata back. "Always," Tenten murmured, and Neji echoed her.

* * *

Two hours into the Hyuuga clan conclave, Tenten was looking at Hinata's prospective groom, and she was as surprised as the rest of the clan by what he had to say.

"I beg your pardon, Lord Namikaze?" That careful query came from one of the elders seated behind Tenten on the raised dais reserved for the clan's leaders. Neji sat to her right and Hinata to her left, because her betrothal was the subject under discussion. After dealing with other matters earlier in the meeting, Naruto had been invited before Neji and the elders to discuss the final details of the betrothal. Instead he had dropped a bombshell.

"I will not consent to the Caged Bird seal being placed on Hinata," Naruto repeated firmly, his glowing crimson eyes with their slit pupils glancing at Hinata and favoring her with a brief smile before returning his gaze to the dozen pairs of pale byakugan on the dais. From the corner of her eye Tenten saw Hinata staring at Naruto in surprise, her posture stiff and uncertain.

The elders were actually reduced to a stunned silence, and Neji was the first to speak. "That is… an unusual request, Naruto-"

"It wasn't a request, and you're the last person who should be arguing for it, Neji," Naruto replied bluntly. A ripple of quiet gasps from members of the branch and main families sitting behind Naruto filled the room.

"-and it is one we cannot accommodate," Neji continued stubbornly. "You're right, I don't like the Caged Bird seal," there was a slight stirring from the elders behind him, "but it is necessary to the survival of the Hyuuga clan. You know this. The purpose of this betrothal is to bring Hyuuga and Namikaze closer together, but that does not mean we will allow future generations of the Namikaze to inherit the byakugan; it is our bloodline and ours alone. No clan in Konohagakure would consent to what you ask."

Tenten allowed herself a moment of hope, carefully concealed. She could almost feel the disapproval of the elders behind her, as intense as the heat from a radiator. Naruto was sabotaging the whole thing; surely they could be convinced to call off the negotiation now!

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, considering Neji's words. "All right, Neji. That's fair enough. Let's modify the contract, then. Instead of Hinata becoming a Namikaze, I'll become a Hyuuga. Then her children will still be Hyuuga and there's no need for her to be sealed, is there?"

If anything, that offer produced a deeper and more profound silence in the room than his initial insistence that his wife-to-be would not wear the clan's seal.

"Are you certain, Naruto?" Neji asked cautiously. The entire thrust of the original betrothal had been to provide Naruto with a wife to rebuild his clan.

"I am. Is that an acceptable change?"

Neji and the elders were too experienced to give anything away, but Tenten could almost feel the eager anticipation from the old men and women behind her. It wasn't just acceptable, it was an amazing offer.

The value of Naruto's blood lay in his mother's Uzumaki heredity. Uzumaki were genetically perfect containers for bijuu, and Naruto's children were certain to be the future jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and any other Tailed Beast the village might acquire. If the Hyuuga accepted his offer – and they'd have to be crazy not to – their clan would gain control of the future containers of the Nine-Tailed Fox.

"Will the Hokage approve this modification to the contract?" Neji inquired, having thought through the implications as quickly as Tenten. Placing the village's sole jinchuuriki in the Hyuuga clan would make the village's premier clan even more powerful, a consequence Orochimaru was surely aware of.

"I don't know how pleased he'll be with the idea, but the choice is mine to make; it has been for several years," Naruto replied, which caused another stir to run through the room. Legally what he said was true; Naruto was twenty-two, the same as Hinata. He had been a shinobi since he was twelve and the titular head of the Namikaze clan for four years. It was simply unexpected, as he had never publicly broken with Orochimaru on any issue before, even a minor one, much less the terms of his marriage.

"I see," Neji said thoughtfully. "Will you excuse us, Lord Namikaze, while we discuss your proposal?" Neji returned to the more formal tone that had dominated most of the meetings.

"Of course," Naruto agreed, inclining his head slightly. "Might…" for a moment he actually hesitated, looking uncertain. "Might Lady Hinata accompany me for a moment? I'd like a chance to speak to her privately, if it would be permissible."

That request was enough to elicit looks of surprise from a number of people on the dais, and Tenten knew herself to be among them. Glancing to the side, she noticed Hinata struggling to control an expression of startled confusion.

"I see no harm in it," Neji answered slowly. "Hinata?"

"O-of course. I-I would be honored," Hinata murmured, gracefully rising to her feet without allowing a single wrinkle in her pale lavender furisode. Naruto offered his arm like a perfect gentleman, and Tenten blinked when he suppressed his chakra outflow to barely a trickle, something she'd never seen him bother to do before. Hinata appeared startled, but relieved as well to avoid the discomfort usually associated with touching the jinchuuriki as she took his arm and they left the room. At a signal from the elders, most of the branch members departed. In the past all of them would have left, but one of the changes Neji had made was retaining a pair of representatives from the branch family as personal advisors, who remained seated just below the dais.

_Something is very wrong,_ Tenten decided. _This isn't like Naruto, and I don't believe for a second he's turned over a new leaf. Orochimaru's up to something, and I don't like whatever it is._

Once Naruto was out of earshot, the elders wasted little time. "I don't see that we have much to discuss," one old man spoke up. "If Namikaze's willing to join the clan, let's get his signature on a new betrothal contract tonight, before the Hokage has a chance to talk him out of it." There was a general rumble of assent at that sentiment.

"This doesn't bother any of you?" Tenten asked quietly. "Naruto didn't have to make this offer. We were all prepared," she kept any bitterness or anger at the elders out of her voice, "to give him Hinata on his terms. Why is he doing this? What does he gain from joining us?"

When Tenten first married Neji, few of the elders respected her or her opinion. Many of them still didn't like or respect her, and probably never would, but she'd managed to convince most of them that she at least wasn't an idiot or someone to be dismissed out of hand. So her questions didn't earn any looks of open derision, but they didn't seem to be giving many of the elders pause.

A pale-eyed matron waved her hand in dismissal. "He could have any number of reasons. He may not care as much about re-establishing the Namikaze as we thought; after all, he never knew his father. He may see a better path to political power as a member of our clan. The boy could simply be enamored of our dear Hinata, and wishes to start their marriage with a conciliatory gesture to her. What matters is that we gain more than we'd dreamed from his offer."

_Namikaze Naruto doesn't do things for love, he's a demon-ridden monster like the rest of the jinchuuriki_, was what Tenten wanted to say, but she couldn't. "Which is more likely: that Naruto is truly going against Orochimaru just to make his wife-to-be happy, or that the Hokage is playing a deeper game?" Tenten paused, letting that point sink in as another thought occurred to her. It bordered on treasonous, but it was paranoid enough to appeal to the elders. "What Naruto is proposing would do something else we may not have considered," Tenten said slowly, "if Hinata remains unsealed she also remains a member of the main family. She would continue to be the next in line for leadership after Neji, with Namikaze Naruto as her husband."

A number of the elders looked shaken as they considered that, and none of them were dismissing the argument. Tenten considered the elders blind in some respects, but for the most part they did want to do what they considered best for the clan, and none of them underestimated the Hokage's guile.

"Lady Tenten has a point," one old man mused. "Hinata's a sweet girl, but far too pliable, especially if she were wed to a man like the Namikaze. There's little danger of anything untoward happening to Lord Neji, but there's no harm in being cautious." Tenten bit back a retort and saw Neji do the same. They both knew Hinata better than the elders, knew that she had more steel in her than they'd ever given her credit for, but if the elders believed that she could fall under Naruto's sway, so much the better.

"A compromise, then," another elder suggested. "We accept the Namikaze's terms, but move Hinata into the branch, or at least out of the line of succession."

"Risky," Neji interjected, jumping on that suggestion before it gained traction. "We can't move her into the branch if she remains unsealed as Naruto demands, and changing her status within the main family – even if it's just to move Hanabi ahead of her in the succession – could be seen as an affront to Naruto, especially if he's joining the clan and taking Hinata's position as his own."

"If the worry is placing Lord Namikaze too close to the succession, there's a simpler answer," the matron on the council interjected. "I would recommend a twin course of action. We accept the Namikaze's offer, but move the wedding date back. In the time that gives us, we do what we can to ensure that by the time he joins the clan Lord Neji has a direct heir, removing Hinata from direct succession without any action of ours."

The old woman's pale eyes focused on Tenten. "I know no young woman likes to hear this, Lady Tenten, but it is perhaps time you visited the medics and determined if any physiological complications are preventing your conception of an heir. It would ease minds on many fronts, including this one, to have a new addition to the nursery."

Tenten schooled her features to stillness, giving away none of her sudden dismay. _Fuck. I walked right into that one._ The elders and Neji didn't know that her failure to conceive a child so far was quite deliberate. Sakura may have removed her kunoichi seal on her wedding day, but Tenten had decided over the honeymoon that having a child with Neji should be avoided if at all possible; it would be incredibly unfair to that child, given how likely her marriage was to end badly in the next handful of years.

To that end Tenten had created a simplified version of the contraceptive seal and applied it under her skin, directly on the surface of her womb, using the same techniques that Sasori did to place seals directly on brain tissue. It was too small to be seen with the byakugan or during a general medical exam, but medics looking specifically at her reproductive system would find it, or at least detect its effects on her chakra network.

"There's no need for that," Neji said firmly, and Tenten felt a flood of gratitude. "It would reflect poorly on the clan for Tenten to visit the hospital for such a reason. Nor would it remain secret for long if she did." _Thank you, Neji!_

Neji took Tenten's hand in his and gave her a gentle smile. "We can hire Haruno Sakura instead, and have her do the necessary diagnostics here, in the compound. We can also contract her to remain with us for a time to make certain there are no problems. We can trust Sakura to be discreet."

_Damn it, Neji,_ Tenten thought, fixing her smile on her face as the elders voiced agreement with that plan. Being under Sakura's care was actually worse than just going to the hospital; Sakura was a better medic, and with the pinkette hovering over her Tenten doubted she'd even be able to fall back on a chemical contraceptive. Everyone else in the room loved the suggestion, however, and Tenten didn't have a legitimate reason to object. So she accepted the suggestion with good grace and resolved to find some way around it.

* * *

"W-why are y-you doing this?"

Naruto had barely closed the door of the waiting room when Hinata spoke up behind him.

Turning smoothly to his bride-to-be, Naruto put on his best innocent smile. "You mean the change to the betrothal?"

Hinata nodded hesitantly.

"I always thought you disliked the Caged Bird seal. I don't want you to be forced to do something you hate to become my wife. So if they won't let you join my clan without it, I'll join yours."

"B-but the Namikaze…"

Naruto shrugged. "What are the Namikaze? Minato was famous for being powerful and saving the village, not for being a Namikaze." He looked around, and rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. "Can we sit down? I feel weird talking about this in the entryway."

Hinata 'eep'ed, her cheeks turning crimson. "O-of course. H-how rude of me," she stammered. The room had a small table, and Naruto pulled out a chair for her, seeing her seated before settling down across from her.

"The bottom line is that I want to do what I can to make you happy. You would be happier staying close to your siblings and family, right?" Hinata nodded again. "Well that's another reason to do it this way."

He looked at Hinata, and she looked away from the intensity of his gaze. "You're afraid of me, aren't you?" Naruto asked quietly. He got all the answer he needed from her silence, and the way she intently studied her lap. "I deserve that," he admitted.

That earned Naruto a surprised look from his betrothed. "Fear has been part of my identity since my father gave me this," he tapped his hitai-ate, "and told me that from that day forward I was the sword and shield of Konohagakure. I have to be feared. I have to terrify the enemies of this village, because that's the role of a jinchuuriki. So when my father sends me to do a job, I do terrible things to send the message that no one wants me sent their way."

Hinata nodded again, but still didn't speak.

"But that's not the reason, is it?" Naruto reflected. "You don't fear me for what I've done to my enemies, you fear me for what I've done to my friends." Hinata flinched, and he knew he had his answer. Naruto sighed and was silent for a time. "I can't take back what I've done in the past, Hinata. Kami knows I wish I could. There's no excuse for some of my sins. I could argue that sharing a body with a demon makes self-control a constant battle that doesn't always end in victory, but that's a cold comfort to those I've wounded, so I won't try."

Naruto leaned across the table, taking Hinata's hands in his own, ignoring her wide eyes and startled squeak. "I will never do anything to hurt you, Hinata. I can't swear to be everything you desire in a husband. I won't have as much time to give you as I'd like. I'll never be as handsome as other men. The way I look is the price I pay for the demon's chakra. I'll never be as tender or gentle as another man could be, because that's not a part of who I am. I had to burn everything soft out of myself before the Kyuubi could use it against me."

Naruto sighed again, and this time he looked away from her. "I can't promise that I'll always have perfect control, because I won't." He released enough of his demonic chakra to let her feel it tingling against the skin of her hands before reining it back in. "If I seem cold, it's because the Kyuubi plays on my emotions; it always has, and I can't afford to lose my temper. This I will promise you, Hinata: I am Konohagakure's sword and shield, and I'll be yours as well, if you'll allow it. I won't ask for your forgiveness for my past sins, because I don't deserve it. All I ask is a chance to be a good husband to you, a chance to show you that you don't have to fear me. Is that too much to ask?"

Hinata had a stunned look on her face, but Naruto reflected that at least she wasn't rejecting the request. He released her hands, and sat back. "You don't have to answer now, Hinata. Just think about it."

No more words passed between them before attendants summoned the pair back to the conclave hall.

* * *

Sitting beneath the window of a dimly lit bedroom, the artist recorded his masterpiece. His tools were simple, a charcoal pencil and a formerly blank page, one quickly being filled with the scene before him. His hand moved rapidly and surely, without a single wasted movement. It was nighttime, and the artist drew by the light of the streetlamp outside.

Another artist might have objected to the poor lighting of his subjects, but Sai had been born and raised in darkness. It was his home, and it had become part of his art. The subjects of Sai's drawing lay sprawled on the room's wide bed. The man was in his forties, a civilian with a soft, well-fed body going to fat and a thinning head of gray hair. Sai knew him to be a merchant, a seller of pigments and dyes. Were he not a member of Root, Sai supposed he might have patronized the man's store at some point, seeking ingredients for his paints.

Lying beside the merchant was his wife, a younger woman in her late twenties, pretty and slender of build, with long brown hair. One of her arms was extended across the bed, reaching for her husband.

Both subjects were still, unmoving, just as Sai preferred. Their eyes were open, but unseeing. The soft lines of their bodies were rudely interrupted by the hilts of kunai driven through their throats. Dark, glistening blood stained their necks and pooled in the sheets beneath them. This detail too was captured in the sketch.

Sai drew for perhaps half an hour before he was finished to his satisfaction. When he was done, he slipped his notebook and pencil into their protected pouch, and set to work. From a case slung across his back Sai drew a long scroll that he unrolled on the floor, and a brush dripping with black paint. His hand blurred into motion as he painted dozens of mice in less than a minute, before pressing his free hand to the scroll's paper and feeding his chakra into his newly created art.

In unison, the mice leapt from the page into life, taking on a third dimension and scattering from where Sai stood. They scurried through the bedroom and out into the rest of the apartment. They slipped under furniture, ran up walls, and set beady eyes and twitching whiskers to examining the floors. They went everywhere, and Sai followed them.

The first concealed safe the mice found was hidden behind false tiles in the master bathroom; it was one Sai already knew about from reading the notes of the ANBU surveillance team that had kept tabs on his target, the apartment's previous occupant. One of his mice slipped inside the lock, and a moment later it opened. The safe was filled with the dead merchant's effects: deeds, contracts and ryo notes.

The money amounted to several months' salary even for a highly placed operative like Sai, and no one would have known if he'd taken it. Sai touched nothing and swung the safe's door closed without a second look. He followed the quiet squeaking of some of his other mice, who had found something in the living room.

The ink mice in question were milling around and under the sofa. In spite of his deceptively slender frame, Sai shifted the heavy couch without difficulty and crouched to examine what lay underneath.

"Mama?"

Sai froze when he heard the sleepy voice coming from the hallway. A moment later a small boy dressed in pale blue pajamas stepped into the dim living room, rubbing his eyes. In spite of his stillness, Sai's deathly pale skin made him stand out in the dark, and for a moment the little boy's light brown eyes met his. Then Sai's hand blurred and one of those brown eyes blossomed with the hilt of a kunai. The tiny body collapsed to the floor.

Turning back to his work, Sai noted the ink mice circling the outline of a false panel in the floor, one that blended in with the surrounding wood so well that even knowing where it was he had trouble seeing it. Finding the hidden catch took a bit of work, and once it was open Sai was surprised to see another safe, one that no one in Root or ANBU had known about as far as he was aware. The lock was far more sophisticated, too tightly sealed to slip animate ink into and it took Sai almost an hour and several failed attempts to get it open. Lifting up the thick metal door, he found the safe empty. Lowering his face he sniffed the newly opened space. The familiar odors of paper and ink filled his nose.

Sai considered his next step. Whatever had been stored here was long gone, likely removed by his target when she left the apartment. If she hadn't destroyed whatever was in this safe, it was still beyond his reach where she now resided. But there were other ways to discover what had been stored there. He had no art capable of revealing what he wanted to know, but there was someone who did. The question was whether troubling that person was a risk worth the reward.

Stepping over the cooling body of the child he had killed, Sai opened the apartment's balcony door a crack and once again set brush to scroll. He painted out a message, and when it was done the words drew together and leapt off of the paper, forming into an inky raven that hopped out onto the balcony and took to flight, winging off to the sparsely developed areas of Konohagakure to the east, where a number of clans held their compounds.

With this done, Sai settled back to wait. When his stomach reminded him that dinner had been quite a while ago, he made his way into the kitchen and prepared himself a sandwich, calmly eating it without a care for the faint smell of blood that hung in the air.

Sai was finished when the curtains hanging over the balcony door rippled behind him. The Root operative turned lazily to see an older man with graying hair and sharp features in a lined face. He wore a black tunic and pants and reinforced sandals, a red sash around his waist supporting a katana. His dark eyes were sharp and arrogant, regarding Sai as one might a cockroach or rat found in one's dwelling.

Sai smoothly dropped to one knee, lowering his gaze to the wooden floor. "Uchiha-sama," he murmured respectfully.

Uchiha Taka's dark eyes spun into three-tomoe sharingan as he favored Sai with a disdainful look. "What do you want?" the old man demanded. "Our arrangement with Danzo does not mean we are at the beck and call of his dogs."

"Of course not, Uchiha-sama," Sai replied smoothly. He could feel Taka's glare on him, and knew his life hung by a thread. Taka could end his life as easily as breathing. The old man could kill him personally, or simply speak a word to Danzo that would end in Sai's termination. "My target is one of interest to Fugaku-sama as well as Danzo-sama. You know the person who once lived here, I believe."

Taka looked around for a moment, his gaze passing over the dead child on the floor without pause. Some of the old man's irritation faded, replaced with a thoughtful expression. "Ah, yes. That matter. Hmph. What do you need from me?"

Sai gave a meaningful glance to the empty safe in the living room floor. "Whatever was in there, it was something that this apartment's last owner chose to hide, even from ANBU. I would like to know what that was. If my suspicions are off the mark, I will accept whatever sanction you and Danzo-sama see fit."

Taka looked at the safe and then back at Sai, eyes narrowing as he realized what Sai was asking for. "That information is not something Danzo should have shared with one of his errand boys," Taka rumbled dangerously. The time between when Taka gripped the hilt of his katana and when Sai felt its edge come to rest against the side of his neck was so short that the Root operative could not perceive it as anything other than instantaneous.

Looking into the cold sharingan, Sai felt something that another man would have called fear. For a Root operative it was a distraction, and thus irrelevant. Without moving another muscle in his body, Sai slowly extended his tongue far enough that Taka could see the mark tattooed on the back of it. "Danzo-sama tells me what I need to know to do my job, Uchiha-sama," Sai said quietly. "I am an extension of his will, and I could no more reveal his secrets than his own hand could strike against him."

Taka considered that. A moment later the blade left Sai's neck, leaving a thin cut that trickled a few drops of blood. "Hope that this information is worth my time," Taka urged Sai softly before moving to crouch beside the safe. "The past of this container's contents will be visible for only a short time, and it will be an image only," Taka continued. "Look at my face while the illusion is present and I will kill you."

"Understood," Sai murmured, averting his eyes from his companion. He focused solely on the safe, so he saw the moment when the empty space warped and shimmered. A solid-looking image appeared in the safe, the ghost of a stack of folders.

"Do whatever you're going to do quickly," Taka snapped at Sai.

Nodding silently, Sai gauged the size of the folder stack, then retrieved four blank scrolls from the case on his back and set them on end around the corners of Taka's illusion. Wasting no time, he opened two bottles of ink, and charged them with his chakra until he felt the edges of exhaustion before upending the bottles on top of the illusionary folders. A cascade of dozens of tiny ink snakes the size of earthworms poured from the bottles. Each animate strip of ink fell into the illusion and quickly examined a portion of it before slithering to one of the scrolls and burrowing into its wrap. When the last tiny ink serpent was gone, Sai spoke. "Done."

Taka exhaled slowly, and the illusion faded. "This had better be worth it, boy," the old man grumbled, picking up one of the scrolls without so much as a glance to Sai and unrolling it. Sai opened another and both men read for several long moments. "These are genin records," Taka observed, "comprehensive ones from Sunagakure and Kirigakure." He dropped that scroll and picked up another one. "These are from Iwagakure."

Sai set down his second scroll and pointed to the two before him. "Kumogakure and Konohagakure."

"Where did that bitch get this kind of intel? She's never been in ANBU or T&I." Taka snorted. "Of course; the Hyuuga. She must really be an incredible lay if that milk-eyed upstart was giving her information like this before they were even engaged."

Sai considered the possibility, but kept his own council. Unlike the elder Uchiha, he wasn't blinded by clan prejudices. His job was to provide information to his master. Danzo would make a decision, and Sai would carry out his will.

"Tell Danzo we expect to be kept apprised of what happens in your investigation," Taka said to Sai. "Now, if we're done I'm going back to bed."

"My deepest thanks for your assistance, Uchiha-sama," Sai murmured. The old man snorted and disappeared as silently as he had arrived.

Sai collected and carefully stowed the scrolls full of information. Then he made his way out onto the balcony. Hopping over the railing, he swung underneath the concrete slab and stuck to the bottom with chakra flowing through his hands and knees. Upside down, he crawled over to a thick metal pipe bracketed to the wall underneath the balcony. Retrieving a pin detonator from his belt, he carefully sank the sharp end into a block of gray, clay-like material, twisted it until a red light lit up on its head, and wedged the block between the pipe and the wall. Then he dropped down to the next balcony down, and from there jumped to the rooftop across the street, taking to the rooftops.

When Sai was half a kilometer away, the timer inside the pin reached zero and the bomb went off. By itself it would have obliterated both the apartment he had raided and the one below it. Attached to the high-pressure gas main as it was, the resulting blast leveled the entire building, peppered the street below and the facing sides of the buildings nearby with shrapnel, and blew out every window within two hundred meters.

Danzo taught his Root operatives to be thorough. Sai thought no more of the thirty-two people who died from the bomb than he had for the three who had already been dead when it went off. All that mattered to him was that the two groups were now indistinguishable from one another.

* * *

"It's suggestive, but not damning in itself," Shimura Danzo concluded when he was done reading Sai's scrolls and hearing his report.

The statement didn't require a reply, so Sai made none.

"Two years ago this would have been enough to bring her in and have Inoichi and Ibiki pick her brain, but now?" Danzo snorted. "She's 'Lady Hyuuga'. This isn't direct evidence of anything more than a jounin sensei going the extra mile for her students, and that's not enough to rile the Hyuuga over."

"So we do nothing, Danzo-sama?" Sai concluded.

"Oh, I didn't say that. The Hokage will be interested in this, I think. I'm interested, too. I want to know where she got this information. That's your next task, Sai. Find out who gave her this. Maybe Taka's right and she got this from Hyuuga spies, but I don't want to rule anything out. Follow the information wherever it leads and report back." Danzo scratched his chin. "I'd suspect her of being an Akatsuki plant if Inoichi hadn't verified personally that she came out of captivity clean. Still, it would be nice if we could get her in to double-check his findings. Ah well."

"I understand, Danzo-sama," Sai replied. "What of the Uchiha?" he inquired after a pause.

Danzo grunted. "I'd be upset with you for involving them if there had been another way, but unfortunately some of their tricks are truly beyond our ability to replicate." Sai knew his master well enough to hear the unspoken _for now_ at the end of that sentence. "Report your findings to no one but me. Feel free to tell Taka that if he pushes you. I will deal with the Uchiha."

Recognizing a dismissal, Sai bowed and left, leaving his master alone in the dark, cavernous chamber that was the heart of Root.

* * *

Amaya, Kaede and Kiran were travelling south through a stretch of badlands in the patchwork of small nations between the Lands of Fire and Lightning when the attack came. Kaede became aware of the ambush first, stiffening in alarm as dozens of kikai bugs in as many directions bombarded her with pheromones signaling danger. "We're surrounded," she said a moment later, coming to a stop.

"How many?" Amaya asked, halting her own running pace.

"Two dozen," Kaede answered, then hesitated. "More than that. Some of them are still underground."

"Underground. Rock ninja?" Kiran commented. All three of them had enemies in Iwagakure.

"This way," Kaede interrupted, taking off in a different direction, just south of east. "They're not wearing uniforms or hitai-ate, but a lot of them are using earth ninjutsu. They're building- shit!"

The trio was forced to divert back to the south abruptly when a towering wall of rock shot up from the ground to block their path.

"Building barricades?" Amaya guessed, and Kaede nodded. They tried to turn east again once they passed the rock wall, but they spotted no fewer than ten men in black bodysuits with gray armor plates blocking their path in that direction, and had to continue south. "Not good. They're herding us. Well, it's not like Rock ninja are going to wear their uniforms while committing a treaty violation," Amaya observed. Kaede signaled silently and then made an abrupt turn west. Another sheer wall erupted in front of them. This time the three of them ran straight up the rock face, but the top of the wall grew further and curved down ahead of them, and they were forced again to continue south before the animate rock crushed them to the ground.

Amaya signaled a different plan. They broke east again, and again found a numerically superior force of enemy ninja in their path, eleven this time. Instead of retreating, they broke in three different directions, Amaya angling north and Kaede going south while Kiran continued straight west. In response five of the enemy ninja moved to intercept Amaya and another four went after Kaede, while only two held position to catch Kiran.

Before they got in range, Amaya Kaede and Kiran reversed course, heading away from the enemy and south, and they were allowed to flee. "They're after you two," Kiran concluded, and the kunoichi nodded in agreement.

Up ahead, they could see a box canyon, and they stopped running. "We can't let them herd us all in there," Amaya concluded. "We'll take another run at the guys to the east before we reach the canyon short of the canyon, and this time Kaede and I will engage them. Kiran, you have to try and break out of this ambush and continue south."

"I won't leave you," Kiran said stubbornly.

Kaede turned to look to the north, where another dozen enemies were coming up behind them. "Kiran, there are too many of them. One of us has to get to the edge of the Land of Fire and find a Konohagakure border patrol, let them know what's happening. If they're after Amaya and I, you're the most likely to make it through."

"Kaede, I…" Kiran trailed off, frustrated.

"No time, let's move!" Amaya called, and they turned east again. "Kiran, go! No arguing!" This time Amaya and Kaede broke north while Kiran broke south. Most of the enemy ninja moved toward them, but three diverted to chase Kiran. "Oh no you don't," Amaya growled. Once the other eight were too close to her and too far from Kiran, Amaya stopped and started flashing through hand signs. The eight coming for her and Kaede braced themselves for a long range attack, but Amaya disappointed them. "Raiton: Rakkasora!"

A pillar of white incandescence plunged from a clear sky and immolated all three of the enemy ninja pursuing Kiran before they knew they were dead. Amaya staggered in the wake of the attack. She'd put her time in the Land of Lightning to good use, training her chakra capacity and secondary affinity for lightning element ninjutsu, but striking at that range with enough force to kill three men still took a deep bite out of her chakra reserves, cutting them by more than half.

Then there was no more time to spare attention to the fleeing Kiran, because eight ninja attacked Amaya and Kaede, angry and out for blood. Amaya peppered the lot of them with a wide spray of fist-sized fireballs. Only one of them was hit, the small sphere burning clean through his chest. The other seven erected earthen barriers in time to take the hits as their comrade fell. This blinded them for a moment, however, and Kaede took advantage of that opening to send an angry, buzzing cloud of kikai bugs over and around the walls, stinging and draining chakra.

Amaya drew a pair of kunai, charged them with lightning chakra, and threw them. Both pierced clean through a stone shield, killing the ninja on the other side. Then Amaya drew her tanto and Kaede her sickles. Each of them was forced to retreat, under attack by three opponents. Amaya and Kaede both quickly realized that their attackers were prepared for them specifically. All of them wore goggles with reflective lenses to protect their eyes from the sharingan, and when they got close the kunoichi's noses confirmed what Kaede's bugs had discovered in their initial attack; the men's armor was soaked in a potent insecticide that sent kikai bugs fluttering to the ground.

All three of the men who surrounded Amaya enemies were armed with massive war hammers, twenty-kilo metal heads attached to long wooden hafts. The weapons were rarely seen in shinobi battles, but were especially effective against those who used lightning chakra, since their swings were too powerful to deflect and the wooden hafts didn't conduct electricity. War hammers were slow weapons, and with her sharingan spinning and tracking their movement Amaya was able to simply dodge them, but three to one against opponents she could tell were older and experienced with their weapons, she was driven back, unable to go on the offensive or attack with her deadly ninjutsu repertoire.

Kaede's opponents were armed conventionally; two coming at her with kunai while a third stood back and threw shuriken. Her whirling sickle blades kept them at bay, but even when she disgorged greater number of kikai bugs to get through the insecticide fumes, both melee fighters displayed the same trick that Grun and Abodo had mastered, belching poison gas into the air.

In the minutes that followed Amaya managed to wound one of her opponent's arms badly enough that he had to abandon his hammer, but she also took a glancing blow from another hammer wielder that almost broke her collarbone. Kaede took some minor hits from shuriken, but managed to lull one of her opponents with a masterful feint and slice his neck open. Before either of them could do more, their time ran out. The enemies that had been pacing them from the north had abandoned that role as soon as combat started, and now a dozen fresh opponents were drawing close.

Amaya and Kaede broke off their own fights, moving back from their opponents swiftly. Amaya managed a kunai throw that slipped between the ribs of Kaede's shuriken thrower, while Kaede slipped a grenade from her sleeve and threw it at the feet of Amaya's remaining opponents, forcing them to retreat. Then both kunoichi turned and ran before the reinforcements hit them.

The three uninjured survivors of the first group broke off and headed east, following Kiran's trail. Amaya and Kaede were too far to do anything about it. The pair were driven south again towards the box canyon, and this time their pursuers stayed close on their heels. It wasn't until they were forced into the narrow, steep-walled canyon that the chase let up and the enemy fell back, blocking the canyon's entrance with new stone barricades.

"It worries me that they sent that many guys just to herd us in here. Makes me wonder what they're chasing us towards," Amaya observed as they slowed their pace, catching their breath. With the adrenaline fading she was more aware of the massive, aching bruise where she'd been winged by a war hammer.

"I would prefer not to find out what's waiting at the end of this chase," Kaede agreed as she applied a disinfecting paste to the shuriken cuts she'd received.

"Up?" Amaya asked.

"As good a direction as any," Kaede agreed.

'Up' turned out to be a problematic direction. As soon as the pair started running up the canyon wall the same curving shelves of rock that had hemmed them in out in the open started sliding out of the vertical faces they were scaling.

In retaliation Amaya introduced a new variable, committing more of her dwindling chakra to one of the new jutsus she'd learned from Kikiyo during her time in the Royal Guard. "Raiton: Kaminari Boru!" _[Ball Lightning]_ Instead of cracking forks, an ephemeral sphere of pinkish-white light leapt from Amaya's hands, taking a meandering and slightly curving path before landing almost lazily in the center of one of the stone sheets. The resulting explosion was as impressive as the jutsu's appearance was not, and the wide plume of dust and rock fragments that flew up ahead of them covered Amaya and Kaede's movement as they ran through the wide hole the hit had created.

Kikiyo had called Kaminari Boru a 'siege breaker' technique when she taught it to Amaya over the course of four months they had spent assisting the daimyo's army. After Amaya had successfully prevented the assassination of the daimyo's daughter, Raishi had moved his armies against the northern rebels. Most of their isolated towns fell without significant issue, but their main stronghold had proven a tough nut to crack, a massive castle surrounded by sheer drops in every direction but one. The technique had lived up to Kikiyo's description, because once Amaya had mastered it, the pair of them had simply reduced the castle's front wall to rubble in an afternoon, opening a path for the samurai to lead their troops in and overwhelm the rebels.

Amaya and Kaede encountered a new problem when they got past the rock barriers. The canyon lip was lined with a score of archers. "How many people do they have?" Amaya grumbled. Their upward progress halted and then reversed as they were forced to dodge a hail of arrows.

After the first volley, Amaya noticed something odd, and when the second round rained down on them she tracked one arrow with her sharingan and snatched it out of midair. What she saw was perplexing. The arrow wasn't tipped with a piercing head, but with an iron ball the size of a walnut. "Fowling blunts?" The ball-tipped arrows were bludgeoning weapons, rarely lethal save against birds that were their usual targets, though they could break bones if they hit a person right. It took only a moment for Amaya to process the implication of that. "Kaede, back to the canyon mouth," Amaya called out, reversing course and sprinting down the wall.

"What is it?" Kaede inquired as she followed.

Amaya showed her the fowling blunt before tossing it aside. "They're trying to take us alive."

For most people, opponents who didn't want to kill them would be a good thing, but both Amaya and Kaede were fully cognizant of possessing bodies full of clan secrets. The attack's threat wasn't just to them anymore; it was aimed at their clans as well, their families and friends.

It also meant that their opponents would hesitate before landing killing blows. "Can we take them all?" Kaede asked as they came into sight of the dozen enemy ninja blocking the canyon's exit.

"We have to try," was Amaya's answer, and Kaede didn't argue. Neither of them was willing to be captured if they could avoid it.

When they got closer, they saw that their opponents now numbered thirteen. The first female opponent they'd seen now stood in front of the man, an old woman with iron gray hair and lighter armor stood in their path. Amaya let her sharingan focus on this new arrival, and what she saw shook her. For the men she'd fought so far, the ninja and archers both, this whole thing was just another job. But even with mirrored goggles hiding her eyes, Amaya could see the hate carved into every line of the old kunoichi's face. For her, this was somehow personal, for all the Amaya had never seen her before.

As they drew into range, Amaya and Kaede prepared themselves for a fight that never happened. The old woman formed unfamiliar hand signs. Amaya's sharingan mapped them, but she couldn't divine their use. The woman knelt, pressing her hands to the ground. Between one step and the next, the earth simply fell away around Amaya and Kaede, sending them tumbling down into a pit twenty meters across and almost thirty deep.

Neither kunoichi wasted time running up the walls, but more archers lined the pit's edge, slowing them down with the need to evade arrows, and before they reached the top three crisscrossing layers of stone bars slid across the top of the pit, caging them inside. Amaya tried to fire off another Kaminari Boru, but there were too many arrows to dodge while forming hand signs. She took two fowling blunts to the chest and fell back to the bottom of the pit, barely landing on her feet and struggling to breathe.

Glaring up at the surface, she saw the archers draw back and the old kunoichi step forward. The smile on her face was malicious and cruel as she formed new hand signs. Kaede sent a kikai swarm up to stop her, but the old woman's fellow ninja stepped forward and flooded the pit with more noxious gas that not only killed the kikai but burned Amaya and Kaede's eyes and lungs. Coughing, Amaya barely heard the words of the old kunoichi. "Doton: Masshi-shi no Hitsugi!" _[Pummeling Coffin]_

The walls of the pit distorted, and without warning dozens of fist-sized balls of rock shot from the stone around them from every direction. Kaede was struck from four different directions, one impacting her temple, and the Aburame girl crumpled to the dirt, out cold. With her sharingan still active, Amaya had better luck dodging the first volley, but she was trapped in a confined space, and as she watched the walls of the pit started closing in, giving her less room to dodge. The subsequent volleys were all aimed at her, and she quickly accumulated injuries from countless glancing hits.

Amaya couldn't evade so many projectiles forever, and when the noxious gas filling her lungs set her head swimming, she stumbled over some of the rocky orbs covering the floor of the pit. A stone ball struck Amaya squarely in the back of the head, and she saw stars before everything went black.

* * *

"We got us a pretty one here," one of the three black and gray clad ninja surrounding Kiran exclaimed with a sneer. "You a boy or a girl?"

"Don't matter," one of the others declared. "Either way, a gilded lily like this little morsel is bound to be an interesting diversion when we've had our fun with those other bitches,"

Kiran didn't respond outwardly to the crude innuendo, keeping the black rage burning in his heart bottled up. He stood ready, a curved dagger in each hand. These people had dared to threaten those he loved. For that sin, none of them would see the next day. He'd led them on a merry chase already. They were in the forest now; Kiran wasn't sure if he had crossed the Land of Fire's border, but he had to be close. He'd run all day with pursuit close on his heels, not stopping to make his stand until night fell and the moon hung high in the sky.

"Well, let's get to making this dandy a bit less pretty," the last of his opponents said to the others. "If it comes down to it, we don't need him alive."

Unwilling to let the three attack together, Kiran moved first, lunging at the one who had questioned his gender. Hands flashed and sparks flew as daggers met kunai at high speeds. The pair behind Kiran closed in with their war hammers, but he didn't react immediately. Even with his back to them he knew about the smug smirks on their faces, and the trajectories of their hammers' crushing heads swinging at him.

At the last moment he ducked down and to the side, evading both blows. The man he had been fighting, expecting those attacks to have finished him, suffered from a fatal moment of surprise that ended when Kiran jabbed one dagger into his inner thigh, slipping under an armor plate and severing his femoral artery. Kiran slid away from that enemy as he fell. The man would bleed out in less than a minute.

The hammer wielders, made wary by his seemingly impossible dodge, spread out. Kiran favored them with a cold look. "Do you peasants even know who I am?"

"I know what you're going to be: dead!" one of them yelled as they charged him. Kiran simply dodged their swings. He wasn't as fast as Amaya or gifted with her dojutsu, but the massive weapons were easy to avoid.

"I am heir of the Kutsuku clan," Kiran informed the pair icily, "and as soon as the sun set, your lives ended." Neither of the angry ninja seemed to know what any of that meant, and Kiran sighed quietly. "Oh well," he murmured.

Neither of his opponents was oblivious enough to miss the change when the clearing they were fighting in gradually got brighter than the moon's unaided light could account for. Looking around warily, they didn't see their death coming until one of them looked up, staring at the moon. A moment later his companion followed his gaze. At that moment both of them were still.

Above them, dozens of moths fluttered around the moon's fat white crescent, each one with wings that glowed softly with the same silver light as their celestial companion. "I must be gone, my lovelies," Kiran whispered. "Deal with these fools, please." Then Kiran was gone, running south once more.

In the clearing, the two ninja stood still, gazing up at the moon. Their hammers slipped from numb fingers and fell to the ground. The moths circled lower, flitting around them, pale dust falling from the wings of the ethereal insects. Where that dust touched the skin of the transfixed men, their ruddy skin turned deep blue, discolored lines quickly tracing the paths of their capillaries. One crumpled to the ground, then the other. The moths landed on their prone forms, glowing wings still softly dusting. The paralytic powder took almost an hour to stop their hearts, and both men were conscious and helpless until the final moment.

* * *

Less than an hour later, Kiran froze mid-step when a tendril of animate darkness snaked out of a hedge he had just passed and latched onto his moon-cast shadow.

"Got him," a woman's voice chimed in lightly from behind him. Kiran found his muscles moving without his permission, taking several steps forward as two more people stepped out of the bushes.

Both were Kiran's age. One was a tall, muscular man with spiky, dark green hair down his back. His eyes were a lighter shade of emerald green, and lime green tattoos in crescent moon arcs adorned his face, stretching from the corners of his eyes to his temples. He wore armor like a samurai, overlapping plates of green-lacquered metal that covered his torso and upper arms and legs. He held a spear in one hand.

The other was a short, skinny woman with straight black hair that almost reached her ankles, and wide, pale eyes with no pupils. She wore the blue bodysuit and green flak jacket of a Konohagakure chuunin and was not visibly armed. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"You're a Hyuuga, oh thank kami," Kiran breathed. "You're the border patrol?"

The petite Hyuuga stepped forward, jabbing a finger at his chest. "We're asking the questions. Why are you?"

"My name is Kutsuku Kiran. I've been travelling south with my fiancée Aburame Kaede and her teammate Uchiha Amaya. We were ambushed by a vastly superior force of ninja a day north of here. I came to find you, the Konohagakure border patrol. They need help." Kiran held onto his composure, but his urgency was plain in his voice.

"Anyone could throw those names around," the third person behind Kiran chimed in skeptically.

Kiran pushed down his rising temper. "There's a copy of the betrothal contact in the pouch on my hip. There are three bodies six kilometers behind me. Dozens of their friends are trying to capture my betrothed and your comrades. If you're not going to help let me go so I can find someone who will."

The veins around the Hyuuga kunoichi's eyes bulged as she focused on his pouch, and a moment later she blinked. "I'll be damned; didn't think Kaede could reel in a guy as pretty as you." She shook her head. "Let him go, Shimi. Either he's on the level or someone's going to a lot of effort for this."

A moment later Kiran could move again and he turned to see another kunoichi in the uniform of a Leaf chuunin, this one with close-cropped black hair. "I'm Hanabi and this is Tanai," the Hyuuga continued. "We're not the border patrol, but their station is only a few kilometers away. We'll go grab whoever they can spare and pick up the trail." Hanabi paused. "They should also have a Yamanaka hanging around to verify your identity."

"Good," Kiran replied levelly. "I hear they work quickly. Now, are we done talking?"

Hanabi's lips twisted into a smirk, but she didn't reply, leaping into the trees, Tanai and Shimi following her. Kiran fell in behind them silently. _Stay alive, Kaede,_ he prayed. _I will find you._

* * *

_Author's Note: It's been a couple long chapters now. I'm trying to cover a lot of stuff at once. Enjoy!_


	32. Misery

**Chapter 32: Misery**

* * *

Uchiha Amaya awoke to darkness and pain. A pulsing, grinding headache made her skull feel like it was splitting, her limbs were aching and half-numb, and her torso felt like one big bruise. Lying on a cold stone floor, Amaya registered a strange taste in her mouth that made her suspect she'd been drugged as her head slowly cleared.

When Amaya could think straight she discovered that her eyelids were stuck shut, covered with something gummy, and after a moment Amaya realized someone had blindfolded her with layers of glue-soaked bandages that were stuck fast to her skin and hair.

Amaya's arms were not just tied but wrenched painfully behind her and sheathed in what felt like a leather monoglove that covered her from fingertip to shoulder. It took only moments to discover that she couldn't so much as move a pinky, so tightly were her hands wrapped. Her legs were bound at ankle and thigh.

Amaya hadn't moved much while testing her bonds, but someone had noticed her return to consciousness, because she heard shoes on stone moving towards where she was lying on the floor, followed by a vicious kick to the gut that forced the air out of Amaya's lungs in an explosive rush. While she was fighting for breath, her captor grabbed the base of her ponytail and yanked her head up off the ground. "Welcome back to the waking world, Uchiha bitch." The voice was female, ugly in tone and coarsened by age. Amaya assumed she was being addressed by the woman whose earth jutsu had felled her and Kaede.

"You'd be surprised how often people call me that. The others who said it were about to die, too," Amaya replied when she could breathe again. That earned her Amaya a punch to the face that snapped her head back in her captor's firm grip.

"Ah, the bravado of Leaf shinobi; I've missed this," the old harridan mused. "You know the downside to this inter-village peace? It's been so long since I've had the pleasure of breaking one of you. Getting information out of scared bandits and half-baked conspirators isn't nearly as much fun."

Amaya considered that. The implication that her captor was a Torture and Interrogation specialist was disturbing, but so was her allusion to inter-village rivalry. "So you're a Rock ninja. You know the Tsuchikage will cut you loose rather than fight a war over this."

The old woman snorted, releasing her grip on Amaya's hair. A moment later she received another kick to her already-bruised stomach. "And there's the Uchiha arrogance. Your kin were always the worst of the whole lot from that soft village." Amaya heard her captor walking away, then the hissing noise of metal on coals. "I'll relieve you of that particular hope right now. No one knows where you are. Not the Tsuchikage, not the Hokage, and not mommy and daddy Uchiha. You're all alone, girl."

_Alone? What did you do to Kaede, you bitch?_ Amaya forced that demand down; she couldn't afford to show that kind of weakness, as much as she wanted to. "So this is about money, then? You won't live to spend it," Amaya said as coldly as she could manage.

The old woman just laughed. No more was said, and Amaya struggled to remain silent, worrying about Kaede, about herself. Then her captor's footsteps returned. One hand seized her chin, pinning her head in an iron grip. Amaya had only a moment to wonder what was going on before she felt a wash of heat across her face, followed by burning agony when a red-hot metal brand was pressed to the center of her forehead. The unexpected pain drew a scream from Amaya's lips, and she tried to draw away, but the old woman's grip was too strong, and the searing metal remained pressed to her skin for a long moment before it was drawn back, leaving behind a burn in the shape of the symbol on the end of the brand.

"This is about honor and vengeance; money's just a bonus. My name is Toma Kusana. This brand is the Toma clan's mark, you pathetic little worm," the old woman said savagely as Amaya drew breath in pained gasps. Through the pain Amaya struggled to understand. She'd heard of the Toma before, dangerous and respected shinobi from Iwagakure.

"This brand is given to those who have earned our undying enmity," Kusana continued, "so that every person who looks upon you might know what a wretched creature you are and cringe at the thought of your fate. You will wear it for what remains of your miserable life. You killed my baby boy, Uchiha, and for that you will suffer. You will beg me for death, and I will take great joy in denying you that mercy." Amaya's breath caught. She could only think of one Rock ninja whose family would know she'd killed him, some three years and more in the past now. _Grun_.

Dizzy from pain, Amaya's lips parted to ask, but a thick wad of cloth was stuffed between her lips, then another strip tied over it to seal the gag in place. "Here's what's going to happen to you," Kusana said conversationally. "First, you're going to lose those special eyes of yours. I've already got a buyer on the way here who is paying a great deal of money for the chance to cut a pair of sharingan from the head of a living Uchiha. A rare opportunity, I'm told, and necessary if one wishes to transplant the eyes into another. So soon you'll be blind instead of just blindfolded. But you'll still be of use to me. You took my boy, so before you die you're going to repay that debt to the Toma. I'm sure we can get at least a few babies out of you, and you're certainly good breeding stock, even if you do come from a clan of arrogant pissants. Eventually we may be able to build up our own stock of sharingan users."

It took considerable effort for Amaya to hide her growing horror as Kusana spoke. She heard the snick of a blade leaving its sheath, and a razor edge pressed against the flesh of her ribs. She went still, but Kusana only traced the blade down her side and used it to cut the fabric of her pants, baring her right hip. "I know what you're thinking about that last part, by the way. You think this," Kusana tapped Amaya's hip where her kunoichi seal was tattooed into her skin, "will prevent me from stealing your clan's bloodline. I'll admit Senju Tsunade outdid herself when she designed this; it's an elegant seal. It's vastly more effective than what any of the other villages use, impossible to duplicate, and _almost_ impossible to remove." Amaya heard the glee in the other woman's voice as she stressed that word. "Unfortunately for you, no seal is perfect. It's difficult and time consuming to find a seal's weakness, but we have plenty of time to work on it. Fortunately for me, the process is not only long but incredibly painful. Before I'm done, you're going to wish you could be rid of it just to make the pain stop."

Amaya heard the scrape of metal on stone, and felt the heat of a brazier nearby. Again red-hot metal kissed her skin, this time the flat of a blade heated in the coals and applied directly to her kunoichi seal. It wasn't a brief tap; her captor pressed the glowing metal to her skin for long, agonizing seconds that seemed like an eternity. Amaya struggled, screaming into the gag accompanied by the hiss of roasting flesh as the scent of burning skin and hair filled her nostrils, but the pain didn't abate until Kusana lifted the glowing metal from her hip.

Amaya drew ragged breaths, agony from her burns hammering at her mind, and below that she could feel a steady drain on her chakra as the kunoichi seal went to work. Early attempts at fuuinjutsu-based contraception for shinobi had run into a complication: seals could be broken by the simple expedient of damaging their matrix. For a tattooed seal, one had to simply deface parts of it and it would lose its effect. Senju Tsunade's breakthrough, working in concert with her teammate Jiraiya, had been adding a regenerative jutsu to the seal and tying it in directly to the wearer's chakra network.

She couldn't see it, but Amaya could feel the pain in her hip tapering off as the seal slowly regenerated itself and the skin around it. It would take hours to finish, but when the process was done the seal would be back and Kusana's work erased.

Amaya heard Kusana rise to her feet and walk away. "We'll try again later. Maybe I'll use acid next time."

The door slammed shut, and Amaya was alone. In silence and darkness, she struggled to master both her pain and her fear. Stories about situations like this were what young Uchiha told to scare each other, taken prisoner and used by the enemy to steal the secrets of the sharingan, but none of those sleepover tales told by candlelight could compare to the fear Amaya felt now. Kaede could already be dead, and if Kusana was able to carry out her threats, the Aburame might be the lucky one.

_Is this my karma?_ Amaya wondered. _Is this my punishment for killing Ken?_ She'd learned to live with the guilt the last three years, but it had never gone away, and when everything had gone so well in the Land of Lightning, that doubtful part of her had wondered when fate would exact its payment for her sins.

With effort Amaya forced those thoughts away. This was about more than her. Kusana's plans were a threat to her whole family, and even if they weren't, no one treated an Uchiha this way and lived; it was bad for the clan's reputation. Grimly, she set to work testing her restraints. There had to be a way to slip loose, or something in the room she could use to free herself. There _had_ to be.

* * *

Aburame Kaede woke to haze and confusion. Consciousness returned to her gradually, but mental clarity did not. Her thoughts skittered about like oil on a hot pan, unable to form a coherent track.

She stared at her lap for almost a quarter of an hour before slowly realizing that she was tied to a heavy wooden chair in a dark room, rough rope securing her wrists behind her and her ankles to the legs. She'd been stripped down to her underclothes, and her hidden weapons had all been taken. Her head hung limply forward, and just raising it to look around was an effort.

The air in the room was thick and hazy. She coughed occasionally, as each breath brought more of the hot, heavy, smoky air into her lungs. In each corner of the room a small fire was burning in an iron brazier, and something had been thrown onto the coals that produced the noxious haze filling the room. Kaede's dulled mind tried to understand why she couldn't smell it, until she realized she couldn't smell anything; the smoke was dulling all of her senses.

Something was missing, but it took Kaede's fuzzy mind several minutes to pinpoint it, and her heart leapt into her throat when she identified the problem; she couldn't hear her kikai bugs. She'd been implanted with her first queen when she was six, and since then she'd never been truly alone, but now she couldn't feel any of her queens. For a heart-stopping moment she feared they were dead or dying, but a quick assessment of her own body indicated that she wasn't dying, which meant her hives were whole. Aburame bonding with their insects was a true symbiosis; if her bugs were dead she would follow them in short order. In order to accommodate their presence inside a human body, the kikai took over many of the functions of the flesh they replaced. An Aburame's digestive and immune systems would shut down without the kikai, and their hearts would fail soon after.

It was the smoke, she realized slowly. The haze filling the room wasn't meant for her; it was only making her woozy and sluggish. It was meant to quiet the hives and prevent her from using them; normally tying up an Aburame was futile; their soldiers could free them even from steel chains given enough time to work. But now she was as trapped as any other kunoichi.

When she could make her neck move, Kaede took in her surroundings. The room was a simple bedchamber, unfinished stone walls, ceiling and floor, with a modicum of furniture; a bed, a desk, and the chair she was tied to. The room had windows in two walls, but those windows were shuttered, and rags were stuffed in the gaps, so even though she could see daylight through the slats, little of the light entered the room.

Kaede didn't notice the figure sitting in the shadows against one wall until he moved. Her eyes strained to focus as she looked at him. He was tall and skinny, with long, lank dark hair that mostly covered the Iwagakure hitai-ate on his forehead. Grey eyes that burned with intensity and hate bored into hers. The lower half of his face was covered by a breath mask to filter the smoke out of the room's air. He wore the uniform of a Rock chuunin, the cloth wrinkled and stained, and the armor plates scuffed and pitted as though he never polished them. Kaede's dulled mind experienced a delayed sense of recognition, but the name that went with the face eluded her.

Detached, Kaede watched his fist draw back, and then fly forward until it hit her cheek and snapped her head sideways. She was a little surprised by how weak the blow was; Amaya hit her a lot harder than that all the time in spars. An image flashed through her head; a memory of dropping from a treetop from behind this man and plunging kunai deep into the muscles of his shoulders during the final round of the Chuunin Exam. _Fel_, the name came to her at last.

"Weak," Kaede murmured.

"What did you say?" Fel growled, veins in his forehead bulging as his face reddened.

"I've been hit harder by five year olds," Kaede clarified. Her speech was slow and slurred, her mind crawling at a snail's pace, but the dig still seemed to affect Fel. "Those wounds didn't heal cleanly, did they?"

Rage burned in Fel's eyes, and he screamed wordlessly, striking her again and again with bruising force, but he didn't even seem to be strong enough to break her nose, and all he got for his troubles was scraped knuckles. Eventually he gave up, panting and glaring at her.

"That's right. You took everything from me; my taijutsu's a joke now, and I don't even have the manual dexterity to form hand signs." He held up one hand level to the floor, and she could see it trembling as he tried to hold it still. "The Tsuchikage called me a failure; he said I should have died with Chen and Grun if I couldn't win. He removed me from active duty, and that's like a death sentence in Iwagakure. My clan disowned me. I had to start over from the level of an academy graduate," he bit off. "I only made chuunin by learning medical ninjutsu, since that requires chakra control, not hand signs."

Fel was still breathing hard, but a nasty look crossed his face. "I get the last laugh though, bug bitch, because here we are. I learned a lot as one of Iwagakure's outcasts. I met others like me, the ones who the village spat on." He looked around at the braziers filling the air with haze, then back at her. "I know you can barely think, and your pet beetles are in even worse shape, so they won't be saving you. I learned all about your weaknesses in my exile; the Kamizuru clan was only too eager to teach me. You've heard of them, haven't you?"

A chill ran through Kaede; even with a head full of smoke she recognized that name. A rival clan of insect users from Iwagakure who used summoned bees, the Kamizuru had been nearly wiped out by the Aburame after a failed sneak attack on Konohagakure during the opening battles of the Third Shinobi World War. If their descendants had survived, then they would be dangerous enemies.

"So when Grun's mom – that's the old lady who beat you – set off to get revenge on your Uchiha friend, she invited me along, and I told her something we could do to hurt your girlfriend even worse. The Kamizuru are already on their way here. They'll arrive soon, and when they do they're going to dissect you, and find out what makes an Aburame tick. Then we're going to sell your clan's secrets to anyone who wants them. We'll get rich and have our revenge."

Fel wasn't done. "Then once you're dead we're going to show your Uchiha friend what we've done to you right before her eyes are cut out, so your mutilated corpse will be the last image in her head while Grun's brothers keep her pregnant for the next decade or so pumping out a bunch of baby sharingan users to serve Iwagakure." Fel's expression was manic as he leaned over her, his face inches from hers, his breath foul enough that even her deadened nose could detect it. "Maybe I'll fuck her and give her a baby myself. Doesn't that sound fun, bug bitch?"

Anger boiled through Kaede's dispassionate demeanor, and she head butted him in response. She felt his nose break when her forehead impacted it. Fel staggered back, yelling from pain and shock. He had to fumble to keep his mask on before he breathed the smoke, and blood from his nostrils got all over him. "As if you could; I'd wager your dick's as limp as your wrists," Kaede retorted.

Fel's eyes were murderous, and he drew a kunai. "Do you even know how to use that?" Kaede asked him, looking at the blade shaking in his unsteady hand with contempt.

Fel took a step forward, raising the blade. _That's right you moron, kill me, _Kaede urged him silently._ My hives will be useless to the Kamizuru once I'm dead._ Kaede felt a moment of sadness at the thought of never seeing her parents or Kiran or Amaya again, but that paled beside the disaster that would befall the Aburame if the Kamizuru got her alive. They might actually know enough to extract her hive without killing them and keep them alive outside her body. That could not be allowed.

The blade flashed above her and Kaede closed her eyes, waiting for the fatal blow, but it didn't come. "You don't get away that easy, bug bitch," Fel growled when she looked at him, putting his kunai away. "Remember this when you're being cut open." The nasal tone of his voice and the blood trickling from under the mask detracted from the threat somewhat, but before Kaede could get in another insult he turned and grabbed a pouch from the room's desk. Tugging it open, he threw a handful of the powder inside on one of the braziers. Instantly a cloud of thicker smoke erupted from the coals, thickening the haze in the room. "Sleep well, bug bitch," Fel said mockingly before he left, locking the door behind him.

Focusing once she was alone, Kaede tried with all her will to reach any of her kikai bugs. It would only take one worker or soldier to chew a hole in her aorta and kill her. It was no use however, and Kaede soon felt her eyelids become heavy, her muscles weakening and growing slack. Her head slumped forward when she no longer had the strength to keep it up. _This is a problem,_ was Kaede's last hazy thought before darkness claimed her.

* * *

Kutsuku Kiran woke to the sounds of an argument, and immediately cursed himself for having fallen asleep. He'd vowed to stay awake until the infuriating Hyuuga Hanabi had relented on her insistence that they not enter the Land of Earth without orders. He'd only intended to rest by the fire a bit, but the fatigue of two days without sleep had caught up with him.

"Do you have orders from the Hokage?" Hanabi's strident voice demanded.

"We have received no word from Konohagakure; nonetheless, we will proceed," an unfamiliar man's voice said in a neutral tone without inflection. "Why? Our kin have been taken, possibly by Iwagakure. To wait at the border is folly; we cannot allow them to be taken to the Rock village, if that is the intended destination."

Standing up, Kiran saw Hanabi and her teammates as well as a tall woman with brown hair and facial tattoos facing off against three older shinobi. One stood silently with his arms crossed. He had unruly black hair that stood up like a duck's tail in back, and the dark eyes of a true killer. He wore garb colored like Amaya's and with her familiar red and white fan on the back, and a katana was sheathed at the small of his back.

The other two were concealed by dark goggles and hooded greatcoats, and Kiran felt relief as he recognized Aburame. One, the shinobi who had replied to Hanabi, was a few years older than Kiran, while the taller man behind him looked to be in his late forties, and wore a large backpack in addition to his other gear. When the older Aburame looked at Kiran, the Kutsuku heir felt a jolt of recognition. The man had visited Sky City with Kaede's father to negotiate the betrothal. "Shibi-sama! Thank kami you're here. These fools wouldn't allow me to cross the border on my own."

Hanabi and her team had taken Kiran to their border post after meeting him, and they'd recruited a taciturn Inuzuka named Hana and her trio of ninken to track Kaede and Amaya. Messages had been sent to Amaya and Kaede's kin who had just passed through the station hours earlier, but there had been no time to wait for them to return.

Kiran and the Konohagakure chuunin had followed the trail of Amaya, Kaede and their presumed abductors to the border of the Land of Earth. It was there that they'd stopped, with Hanabi refusing to cross the border until she got orders from Konohagakure. Now it appeared the Aburame and Uchiha had caught up with them.

Aburame Shibi studied Kiran for a moment and then spoke up in a low rumbling voice. "And you let them stop you? Maybe you're not the right choice for Kaede after all."

Kiran bristled at that. "The Hyuuga here threatened to stop me, and I didn't think Kaede would appreciate my killing the scion of one of her village's major clans. I was tempted though, believe me."

Hanabi looked offended at the suggestion that he could take her until the moment was broken by laughter from the black-haired Uchiha swordsman. "I like him, even with that ridiculous makeup and braids. He can come with us."

Hanabi shook her head. "We can't cross the border without orders, Sasuke-sama," she said stubbornly.

"You can't, Hyuuga," Sasuke replied sharply. "We're not representing the village, we're here on behalf of our clans and we can do what we please. You wouldn't be so attached to the rules if Hinata had been kidnapped by Rock ninja. So you sit here on your thumbs, but we are going."

Hanabi's stubborn expression didn't change, but Shimi put a hand on her shoulder. "Our objections have been noted, Hanabi. We can't stop them, and you know it. Konohagakure doesn't need the Uchiha and Hyuuga at each other throats because you forced Sasuke-sama to hurt you."

Hanabi gave Shibi a withering glare at the suggestion that she'd lose, but then she looked back at Sasuke's cold eyes, and her determination faltered. "Fine," she growled. "Do what you want."

Kiran had already collected his gear, so when Sasuke and the Aburames disappeared into the trees, he was right behind them.

They'd been running for less than half an hour when Shibi made some signals with his hands. The three Konohagakure shinobi veered sharply south and Kiran kept pace. In the next hour they changed direction for no apparent reason a dozen more times, and Kiran felt frustration and puzzlement building until the younger Aburame, Shino, slowed down and introduced himself. "We're moving around Iwagakure's border security. It's quite a bit more extensive than ours," he explained quietly.

"Do you still have Kaede's trail?" Kiran demanded in a whisper.

Shino nodded. "Have no fear. Why? My father or I can follow her anywhere. We will find Kaede, and once we do she can help us find Amaya." Kiran was grateful for the quiet certainty in Shino's voice that Kaede was still alive. It made it easier to believe. They ran on through the night, and for the first time in days Kiran allowed himself to hope.

* * *

Kaede woke to the familiar sensation of insects crawling over her skin. For a moment it was a comfort, until she opened her eyes. The air around her was filled not with beetles but with bees. Yellow and black striped insects covered her, their wings producing an angry buzz.

She could move her eyes, but the rest of her body wouldn't obey her, and the stinging pain from points all over her body told her that the bees had already injected her with paralytic venom.

Kaede was clear-headed, but she could barely feel her kikai bugs, and they didn't seem to hear her at all. As soon as she woke she started sending a command to them to kill her, but they didn't respond. What she could see told her she was in a wide, high-ceilinged operating theatre.

A woman with short brown hair and a purple kimono that fell to mid-thigh loomed over Kaede, a cruel smile on her lips. "Comfortable, Aburame?" she said in a saccharine tone. "I hope so. We're about to start."

The pores in Kaede's skin that opened to her hive were swollen shut by the bee stings, save for a few in her arms. A tall, slender blond man with wire frame glasses was bent over her arms, forcing long, thin tubes into the pores that remained open. The tubes were connected to a machine that was pumping some kind of cool gas into her hive's tunnels. Another man, older and bulkier with dark hair and a full beard and mustache, was leaning against a wall, watching.

"We learned during the last war that trying to dissect an Aburame in the field is a wasted effort; you've taught your beetles to kill you and themselves if it's tried," The brown-haired woman observed conversationally. "Figuring out how to get around that wasn't easy, but you'd be surprised what you can accomplish in a few decades of diligent work. We even created a gas that renders kikai beetles comatose but doesn't affect humans or bees. Isn't that fun?" Picking up a needle, the brunette jabbed Kaede's leg with it. She could feel the prick clearly, but couldn't move to protect herself. "We can't have you moving around when we start cutting you open, but I wouldn't dream of robbing you of the sensation each cut will bring until you die."

"It's ready, Suzumebachi," the blond said as he stood up and pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"That's excellent, Jibachi," she purred. "Now where is- ah, speak of the devil," Suzumebachi remarked as Fel walked into the room, carrying a tray full of edged surgical instruments. "I guess we're ready to begin." Suzumebachi picked up a scalpel, cutting a slit in the surgical gown Kaede wore to expose her stomach.

"If you surrender now you might live," Kaede said quietly. Fel and all three of the Kamizuru froze for a moment and then their incredulity turned to laughter.

"You're hardly in a position to make threats, Aburame. Now shut up and-"

"Too late," Kaede murmured. Impaired in movement as she was, her gaze was focused on the ceiling, picking up other people only in her peripheral vision. As a result, she was the only one who had noticed the shadows on the ceiling, growing, changing… _swarming_.

None of Kaede's captors had any warning when the mass of kikai bugs that had slowly infiltrated through cracks in the ceiling descended in a flood of humming wings.

* * *

When the droning sound of insects on the other side of the door suddenly got much louder and human shouts started ringing out, Uchiha Sasuke nodded. "It's time," he observed quietly before kicking in the door he and Kiran had been waiting behind. The Uchiha preceded Kiran into the room by only a moment.

Above their heads, a massive cloud of bees and beetles were doing battle, the buzzing, humming fury of their wings filling the room with a cloud of sound that was potent enough to be felt down to the bones. It was raining tiny insect corpses all over, and each step into the room brought the crunch of shattered carapaces.

Sasuke was bogged down almost immediately in a kenjutsu fight against two Kamizuru grunts backing up a burly bearded man with a bladed mace, his katana dancing as he fought. Kiran slipped past that melee, determined to get closer to Kaede, who he had glimpsed strapped down to a table as soon as he entered the room. He was forced to dance back from a blur of purple and a slashing kunai, and drew his knives to find himself facing a brunette kunoichi with a murderous look on her face. "No one is taking my vengeance from me! No one!" she screamed before attacking.

On the other side of the room a slender blond man with glasses was moving towards them with almost a dozen more ninja who had poured in from a door on the other side of the room. He was stopped short when part of the ceiling collapsed and two greatcoat-shrouded figures dropped down to land in front of them.

"Jibachi?" Shibi said with a hint of surprise when he saw the bespectacled blond. "I thought you Kamizuru were all dead."

"That can be remedied, father," Shino noted. "Why? We have arrived." Then twin scythes dropped from his sleeves, and he exploded into motion.

The battle in the operating theatre was short and one-sided. Overhead the tide turned against the bees almost immediately. There were simply too many kikai bugs, and even the reinforcements a few of the Kamizuru managed to summon weren't enough to make a difference. Soon most of the insect remains falling from above were striped.

At seventeen Kaede was adept at the Aburame's Mantis style kenjutsu, but Shino, who was twenty-two and had started his training earlier than any Aburame in memory, was a master. Each movement of his sickles sliced into an opponent, and in seconds the floor was littered with blood and bodies.

Those who attempted to flank and overwhelm Shino found out what Shibi's backpack was for before they died, as panels on its sides dropped off and yet more kikai bugs, these ones far larger and more viciously armed with massive jaws, poured out. Shibi had achieved something no Aburame had before, maintaining a link to a hive outside his body, and the much larger soldier beetles this allowed tore through both shinobi and any bee that got too close.

Sasuke's opponents were simple outmatched by the nimble sharingan user. The older man with the mace put up a decent fight, surviving long enough to earn a nod of respect from Sasuke before his flickering blade sliced the man in two.

Of the entire rescue party, Kiran found himself the most evenly matched with his opponent. Suzumebachi was older and more experienced, and she easily dodged Kiran's early knife throws, a mocking grin crossing her face. "You really have terrible aim," she chided. "All that hair and makeup throwing your balance off?"

"Original," Kiran noted. "You're the first opponent I've faced who has ever commented on my appearance." Suzumebachi bristled at his dry sarcasm. "As to my aim, I hit what I meant to hit," he continued, before executing a lunge that forced Suzumebachi to fall back, her rear bumping against Kaede's operating table. Then Suzumebachi shuddered, blood fountaining from her lips. "We fight as a team, my fiancée and I," Kiran finished as Suzumebachi collapsed to the ground, half turning to see that Kiran's first knife throw had scrapped the gas machine and the second had cut the strap on Kaede's arm. The beetles from Shino and Shibi neutralizing the bee venom in her body had done the rest, and Kaede had taken advantage of Suzumebachi's proximity to plunge a surgical knife into her back.

Kiran moved to free Kaede from her restraints, but she grabbed his arm when he got close. "Get the one with long black hair," she grated, "he knows where Amaya is."

Looking up, he saw Fel running for the door, but before he could throw the knife in his hand, someone else who had heard Kaede's words got there first. Sasuke blurred across the room, grabbing Fel by the shoulder and slamming him into a wall. "Talk," he growled, sharingan spinning furiously.

Fel was pale but defiant, screaming, "I'm not telling you shit!"

"Oh, I was hoping you'd say that," Sasuke murmured. His red eyes bored into Fel's grey ones, and both men went still. Kiran busied himself with freeing Kaede and finding her clothes, helping her dress and rise on unsteady feet.

When that was done and still neither Sasuke nor Fel had spoken, Kiran looked at them with confusion. "Shouldn't we be asking him something?"

Kaede shook her head. "It's a genjutsu, probably Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu _[Hell Viewing Technique]_; I've seen Amaya do something similar. This is actually faster than getting out the thumbscrews."

When Kiran looked closer, he could see that Fel's eyes were as wide as saucers. The man started twitching and whimpering, tears leaking from his eyes. After a minute his lips started moving. Kiran could see he was silently saying, "My hands… give me back my hands!"

Eventually Sasuke moved, stepping back with a grimace while Fel collapsed to the floor, hugging himself and weeping. "Now, where is Amaya?" Sasuke repeated icily.

"I don't know," Fel sobbed.

Sasuke grabbed him by the collar and hauled him back up, slamming him into the wall again. "You want to go back?"

"No!" Fel screamed. "Please kami, no! I… I really don't know where she is."

"Explain," Kaede interjected. "You planned to show her my corpse, I believe." Snarls rose from the throats of her fiancé and relatives, but she waved it off. "How did you intend to do that?"

"We originally stopped a day east of here. The old lady… Kusana… when the guys she sent after the pretty boy there," he pointed at Kiran, "didn't come back, she decided to move both prisoners. I brought bug girl here, and she took the Uchiha somewhere else." Fel seemed to regain a bit of his confidence, because he sneered. "I fumigated that bitch before they left and got rid of your tracking bug. You'll never find her. They'll be cutting her eyes out anytime now."

Sasuke's expression went bleak. "Is that true?" he demanded of Kaede. After a moment the girl nodded. "My hive can't sense the female I left on Amaya. It's dead or she's been somewhere airtight for days."

"Damn it," Sasuke growled. The silence in the room was broken by a sharp 'crack' as he broke Fel's neck and let the corpse slump to the ground. "Then we're tracking her the old fashioned way. Can you move?"

Kaede winced. Kiran could feel how stiff and unsteady her movements were, as though she'd been kept sedated for days, but she nodded. "You couldn't stop me."

The five of them were barely outside the abandoned fort where Kaede had been held when Shibi called a halt. "More shinobi approaching." They took up a battle formation, but relaxed when the new arrivals came over the ridge.

"Orders in from Konohagakure," Hanabi informed them when she and her teammates along with Hana and her ninken reached them. "We're to assist you in recovering Kaede and Amaya." She glanced at Kiran and the figure leaning on him. "Looks like you got half of that done already."

"Can you two track Amaya?" Sasuke demanded of Hanabi and Hana.

"We followed the same trail you did," Hana replied. "It split in two half a day back. Amaya's scent went north, yours and Kaede's continued west. We can pick up that other trail, no problem."

Hanabi nodded in agreement. "I've been keeping an eye on that other trail with my byakugan. We can cut across country to get to it and we won't need to backtrack."

"Lead on," was Sasuke's only response and the nine of them disappeared into the night.

* * *

Time passed in a slow and uncertain manner for Amaya. She knew that days passed, but alone and blind she had no reference points. She slept poorly when she could sleep at all. She was alone for long periods of time. In between there were visits by silent strangers to take care of her bodily needs, which were merely humiliating, as well as sessions with Kusana which were always painful.

The horrid old kunoichi never tried the same thing twice in her frighteningly driven quest to break Amaya's kunoichi seal. True to her word, Kusana poured acid on the seal on her second visit. Her third attempt was simply carving away the skin and some of the flesh underneath with a scalpel. After that was something that involved electricity and hurt worse than the burns, acid or surgery. Amaya passed out halfway through that one and was grateful to the reprieve, waking up to the slow healing of the damnable seal.

After that was the attempt to tattoo a counterseal over it, which didn't hurt as much but took almost a day of work, needles jabbing into her skin the whole time. When that attempt failed Kusana did show a bit of temper, beating Amaya unconscious after the counterseal dissolved. Amaya tried to take comfort in her captor's frustration, but mostly she just ached from the beating, and each passing day brought the time when someone would try to cut out her eyes closer.

When Amaya was alone and awake, she found her thoughts turning inward, increasingly falling into the dark place she'd dwelt after Ken died, before Kaede dragged her out of it through sheer stubbornness. She could feel the heat building behind her eyes more and more, and she no longer had the mental strength to hold it back. With her eyes glued shut she couldn't do anything, but after a week of one torture after another, that heat was a near-constant companion, her sharingan morphing into their Mangekyo form underneath the bandages with increasing frequency.

Kusana's fourteenth attempt, like several before it, involved needles. She jabbed them deep into the seal, sometimes scraping the bone of Amaya's pelvis before stopping. Amaya suspected she'd get another infection from this attempt; one of her silent minders was a medic who'd had to heal a few things that the kunoichi seal hadn't.

After a while Amaya realized the needles were charged with chakra of some sort; she could feel a burning itch in her chakra network underneath the pain singing down her nerves. As Kusana worked Amaya realized that she was feeling less and less of her own chakra from the area around her seal. It took a while longer to place the sensation; she'd felt something similar – though less painful – when Hyuuga Hanabi had closed her tenketsu the few times they'd had a full contact spar.

Something like foreboding started building in Amaya's gut as Kurana kept stabbing her and her skin around the seal went numb. When she heard the hissing of metal on coals she couldn't help flinching in anticipation of what came next, hating Kusana for laughing at her fear. A brand was pressed to her seal again, and though the pain was muted it was still enough to draw a scream from her lips.

In the aftermath Amaya waited with resignation for the healing to begin so Kusana could start in on attempt fifteen, but after several long minutes it registered that the seal wasn't drawing on her chakra, and the burn still smarted fiercely. Amaya stomach lurched. _Come on, heal,_ she urged the seal desperately. As maddening as the constant pain was, she feared what Kusana had threatened far more.

"Well, well," Kusana mused thoughtfully. "So that's what it takes to defeat Senju's seal. Interesting. You know, Uchiha, I think a method to break Konohagakure's kunoichi seal would sell on the black market for almost as much as what the Kamizuru are getting out of your insect-ridden friend." Kusana laughed when Amaya twitched at that. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. That Aburame I caught with you is being dissected. Some folks from back home hate her almost as much as I hate you. It should be interesting. Maybe I'll let you listen to her scream while they cut her open."

"If you filth touch Kaede I'll-" Amaya said hotly before a fist to the face silenced her.

Kusana seized Amaya jaw in a painful grip, lifting her head off of the floor. "You'll do nothing, girl. You should worry more about yourself in any case. Your curly-haired friend will be dead once it's over and that will be it for her. You, on the other hand, won't get to die for a long, long time."

With that she let go of Amaya and walked away, opening the door. "Coru!" Kusana called out. "Get in here." Heavy footsteps entered the room from outside. "It's done. The seal's broken. Get to work."

"Yes, mother," a man's deep voice rumbled as Kusana left, and Amaya's stomach twisted with nausea when she understood. Powerful arms picked her up off the floor, and dropped her onto a bed in the room. Thick fingers got a grip on her tattered pants and ripped them off in a single motion.

"Touch me and your ancestors will weep at your fate," Amaya hissed.

Coru grunted. "Sorry, but my mother scares me a lot more than you do, Uchiha." She felt him loosen the ropes around her ankles. "Just hold still and this will be over sooner."

Blind and restrained, the outcome was inevitable. Amaya fought the man she couldn't see as best she could and got a few good kicks in when he untied her legs, but Coru's hide was as hard as his late brother's. When the deed was done he departed without a word, leaving Amaya curled up in a ball on the bed trying not to think about the fierce ache between her legs. At some point someone came to heal the burn on her hip, regenerating new skin with the kunoichi seal gone like it had never been there.

Feeling sick, violated, angry and scared Amaya wasn't sure how much time passed before she realized she wasn't alone. A bony hand touched on her brow, brushing a few locks of her dark hair from her sweaty skin. She flinched away instinctively, but Kusana didn't hit her. Instead, Amaya felt the old woman's breath on her skin as Kusana leaned over her.

"Welcome to the family," Kusana said, softly, mockingly as she rebound Amaya's ankles. Amaya had to fight the urge to vomit. She heard footsteps, and then the door closing.

When she was sure she was alone, Amaya let go of the tears she'd been holding back, and quiet sobs shook her frame. _Ken, I'm sorry,_ she whispered in the quiet of her mind. If t_his is my punishment for killing you I deserve it, but I don't know how much more I can take._ The heat building behind her eyes was her only answer. Amaya was blindfolded and alone, so there was no one to see the shadows in the room distort and flicker, coalescing into a humanoid shape that reached out to her for an instant before dispersing like a mist in the sun.


	33. The Fall of House Uchiha

**Chapter 33: The Fall of House Uchiha**

* * *

As the sun set towards the western horizon, Hyuuga Tenten walked through an expanse of smoking rubble. The evening light dyed everything the color of blood, and she shuddered at the thought. The bodies had been removed, but the whole place still felt… bloody.

Absently, some corner of Tenten's mind that Ino and Hinata trained into her was aware that soot and ash was staining her shoes and the hems of her expensive clothes, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Around her police in Uchiha blue, civilian firefighters, and an arson investigator were picking through what was left of a multi-story building as well.

Somewhere behind her, where the street had been cleared of fallen wood and masonry, she could hear sobbing. Her mother and father were back there. Her brothers and her remaining sister were there as well. Hinata was by their side, and they were loosely ringed by a number of branch Hyuuga, who kept gawkers and the press at bay.

Tenten's _remaining_ sister. Because Rika, just two years her senior, was dead along with her husband and young son. They were among more than thirty who lost their lives when an explosion leveled the apartment building they lived in. The apartment they'd been living in because Tenten had passed the lease on to them when she married Neji.

"This isn't your fault," Neji murmured softly behind her. His hand was warm on her shoulder, and she brushed it with her cheek in acknowledgement.

"Am I really that transparent?" Tenten asked, her voice as neutral and rigidly controlled as her face. Her chest ached and each breath brought a feeling like iron bands squeezing her ribs, but she let none of it show. There were reporters about, some toting the increasingly sophisticated cameras that the Land of Rain kept churning out. The police could keep them out of the site of the blast but not the surrounding buildings, and the last thing Tenten intended to do was let them see her grief, to paste it on the front page of the newspaper.

"No, you're in perfect control," Neji murmured. "I just know you well enough to realize that you're feeling guilty."

"Shouldn't I feel guilty?" Tenten demanded, swallowing the bile that rose in her throat as she looked over the wreckage. The charred corpses were already gone, removed to the morgue or private morticians, but the violence of the late night blast was plain to see. "I put them in that apartment. They'd still be alive if I hadn't."

"There are plenty of people who'd still be alive if you were a seer, Tenten, starting with Isamu Ken," Neji said agreeably. Tenten flinched at that reminder and then looked at Neji incredulously. "Unfortunately, you're human like the rest of us, so unless you wired that gas main to blow, you're not in any way responsible for this."

Tenten sighed. "No, you're right. I'm going to find out who did wire the gas main to blow, though."

Neji blinked at the change of topic. "Tenten, I was just talking to the arson specialist. There was no evidence of foul play."

Tenten snorted bitterly. "Neji, how often do gas mains just blow up?"

"All the time, unfortunately; there have been half a dozen in the last five years. It's still relatively new technology, and not all of the municipal employees are as caught up on it as they should be, so they miss warning signs. You know that Tenten, it's come up in the council before."

Tenten nodded agreeably. Everything he'd said was true, and yet… "Neji, you weren't listening. How many of those incidents were _just_ an accident?"

Neji went still, and she knew he was thinking the same thing now. He'd been in ANBU after all, and this was exactly the sort of thing he or his colleagues would have done to cover up some other illicit activity. "You think someone staged this?"

"I know it," Tenten insisted, "and Rika was the target. I checked before we came. No one else in this building was connected to anyone important enough to merit this level of sterilization." What she didn't know, and couldn't confess to Neji, was why it had happened. Ironically, the best case scenario was that her sister was targeted for being close to Hyuuga Tenten. The far more frightening thought was that she might have been targeted for being close to _Naegi_. That scenario sent chills down Tenten's spine.

Neji still looked doubtful. "Accidents do happen, Tenten."

"I believe in accidents, Neji. I just don't believe in coincidences," Tenten replied.

"All right," Neji conceded. "I'll have Ko make some quiet inquiries once this circus settles down."

"No," Tenten replied immediately. "No one in the clan; I'll handle it."

Neji's eyes narrowed as he processed the implications of her statement. "You can't think the elders had anything to do with this, Tenten."

"I haven't ruled them out," she said evenly.

Neji ran a hand through his hair, letting some frustration show. "I'm not defending that bunch of amoral geriatrics, but they're not reckless. What would they gain from this?"

Tenten shrugged. "I don't know yet. I didn't say I strongly suspect them, but I'm not going into this with any preconceptions." _If I had to guess, the Uchiha would be at the top of my list of suspects,_ she added silently. She'd never told Neji about the years she'd had to dodge assassins after they put an illegal bounty on her head. It would have enraged him, and brought up too many other questions she didn't want to answer.

Neji didn't get a chance to argue anymore, because a green blur shot from an adjoining rooftop, arced over the blast site, and landed with a 'boom' and cloud of displaced ash on a patch of concrete close to Tenten and Neji. The Uchiha police and Hyuuga guards were both moving to intercept when the new arrival straightened and they saw who it was and relaxed, a few muttering about 'crazy taijutsu masters'.

Maito Gai's expression was grave as he jogged up to his former students. Glancing around to make sure they were alone. "Tenten, Neji. Word's just come in from the border." His tone told her the news wasn't good. "Amaya and Kaede were attacked and captured on their way home from the Land of Lightning. Asuma's Team Six is moving to respond, but the Hokage's asked me to lead a rapid response team to back them up."

Tenten felt sick. _No. No, I can't lose my girls too._ "I'm coming with you," she said immediately.

* * *

"I'm coming with you," Neji said half an hour later.

"No you're not," Tenten replied automatically as she strapped her main scroll to her back. Her expensive kimono and impractical shoes were gone; she was back in the comfortable, flexible combat outfit she loved and missed. It might have been pleasant to be back in her own fighting gear instead of Naegi's, but worry for Amaya and Kaede hammered at her with each passing moment. The additional details had been spare and far from comforting.

"Tenten, you don't know what's out there. Given the numbers that attacked your students, this could be an entire rogue clan or some underhanded move by the Tsuchikage. Someone in your position shouldn't be going at all."

For an uncharitable moment Tenten was tempted to snap back that he sounded like the elders, whose objections she'd just gotten done ignoring. "You're right. We may be walking into an ambush. But I still have to go. I lost Ken, and I won't lose Amaya and Kaede. Not like this."

"Then I'm coming with you to watch your back," Neji repeated stubbornly.

Tenten paused in her preparations, really looking at her husband. In that moment she could see his fear for her and her irritation at him dissolved. "Neji," she said softly, stepping close to him, taking his hands in hers. "You know we can't both leave. Who knows what mischief the elders would get up to if we both left the village?"

Neji sighed. "I just got you, Tenten. I can't lose you."

"You're not going to," she reassured him. "Besides, you're sending Ko and four branch jounin with me. Not to mention Gai-sensei and Lee are coming and I'm hardly defenseless myself. It would _take_ half an army to stop us." _Maybe more,_ she added silently. For Amaya and Kaede, she'd take the risk of revealing more of her Akatsuki training if it came down to that. She'd show the earth-type ninja who'd taken her students what a _real_ Doton master could do.

"All right, but when you get back we are going to make that appointment with Sakura. Agreed?"

Tenten knew Neji well enough to know that when he started bargaining, she'd won. "Yes," she conceded, "all right I'll get in touch with Sakura as soon as I get back." _And I'll deal with the consequences of that promise once my girls are safe._

"Tenten, we're ready to go!" Lee called from outside.

Tenten gave Neji a quick kiss. "Keep the old men in line while I'm gone, okay?"

Neji's lips twisted wryly after he'd kissed her back. "Which ones?"

She laughed softly. They privately referred to both the Hyuuga elders and the village's Inner Council as 'the old men'. "All of them." Then she slipped out the door and into the courtyard of the Hyuuga compound.

Five pairs of byakugan looked back at her, Hyuuga Ko leading a unit of four Branch shinobi charged with her safety. Two muscular figures in green with matching bowl haircuts stood beside them, waiting. Lee was bouncing from one foot to another, while Gai only nodded gravely. The sun was set by the time the eight of them took to the rooftops once they left the compound, heading for the north gate.

They were halfway there when the night's newborn darkness was shattered by the orange light of massive explosions to the east, clouds of smoke and fire rising into the sky over the section of Konohagakure devoted to the clan sprawling compounds of the Uchiha, Nara and Aburame. Moments later the sirens mounted on top of the Hokage's tower began blaring out a strident tone that most living shinobi including Tenten had only heard in drills.

Konohagakure was under attack.

The eight of them paused for a moment. "Tenten, you know we have to…" Gai trailed off.

Tenten sighed, worry for her girls eating at her. "I know." An attack on the village overrode all other pending missions, even rescues. "Let's go, we're already close."

As they crossed into the eastern quarter, more explosions lit the night, and they could hear shouts and screams in the distance; the sounds of battle. Once she started listening to the tone of the blasts Tenten felt a lead weight in her stomach: they sounded familiar. _There's no way,_ she told herself. That hopeful doubt lasted until she got a glimpse of a white bird plunging from the clouds, smaller white dots separating from it and plunging down to the ground, followed by more explosions. _Deidara! Oh kami, what's he doing?_

When they got close enough it was plain that the Uchiha compound was the target of the blond Akatsuki's bombardment. The section of the wall they stopped at was already collapsed in a few places. Ko hesitated as Tenten, Gai and Lee picked their way across the rubble. "Milady… is it wise for us to enter the Uchiha lands uninvited?"

"Someone's blowing the Uchiha lands up, Ko," Tenten replied without looking back at him. "Entering is definitely unwise. But I'd like to think the Uchiha would help if we were being attacked, so get a move on." Inside, they hadn't travelled very far before they encountered the first bodies. Tenten felt sick, and more confused than ever when she saw them. The killing was indiscriminate; Uchiha men littered the ground, but women, children and the elderly hadn't been spared. She was heartened to note that at least Deidara wasn't killing in job lots; the blasts had collapsed some buildings but mostly appeared to be intended to create chaos. All the bodies Tenten saw had been cut down with swords.

It was Ko who first found the body of an Uchiha who hadn't died to a katana. The corpse of Amaya's grandmother Chihuya lay half-buried by rubble, her features barely recognizable; she looked like she'd been beaten to death with a meat grinder. _Kisame too? What the __**hell**__ is going on here?_ Tenten didn't have too long to dwell on the revelation, because a dense fog swept over them in a matter of moments, making the nighttime gloom even more opaque.

"This mist – it's blocking the byakugan," one of the branch jounin noted.

Gai swore. "This is a technique of Kirigakure. Their silent killers use it to hide themselves from sight. Everyone, encirclement formation!" Tenten, Lee, Ko and another branch jounin formed a circle back to back while Gai did the same with the other three branch Hyuuga.

It was not a moment too soon, as ninja with slit-eyed masks with Kirigakure's symbol painted on the forehead poured from the fog. Gai's quick reaction had spoiled their chance for an ambush, but it was still a close thing. Tenten held off her attackers easily with an unsealed bo staff from one of her scrolls and a few well-placed kunai throws that found their way into the narrow eye holes of the Mist ninja's masks. Around her, the Hyuuga and the Green Beasts of Konohagakure showed why they didn't need to carry weapons, breaking limbs and necks and closing vital tenketsu. All the while Tenten's mind raced. Akatsuki and Kirigakure attacking Konohagakure together made no sense, and her hearing nothing of it from the organization she was supposed to be a member of was equally disturbing.

The Mist ninja's numbers were already thinning out when they were attacked from behind. Blasts of cutting wind rent the fog and flesh with equal ease, and several of the Mist ninja turned their weapons on each other in a manner that Tenten recognized. A moment later Sarutobi Asuma and Yuuhi Kurenai emerged from the haze. Asuma was favoring his left side where a long gash ran along his ribs, but his trench knives dripped with the blood of his enemies, and most of the red spattering his armor wasn't his. Kurenai's red eyes almost seemed to glow, and whenever Tenten looked at the raven-haired woman from the corner of her eye she could see flickers of images around her, genjutsu ready to leap to Kurenai's next target.

Because she was looking for it, Tenten could also see hints of confusion on Kurenai's face, swiftly controlled. She was as puzzled and dismayed as Tenten.

"Asuma, are you all right?" Gai called out.

Asuma nodded, flicking a cigarette out of his vest and setting it between his lips, lighting it with a minute pulse of fire chakra. "It's just a scratch." He glanced around at the mist. "We were already next door with Shikaku when this started, but we got separated in the last fight. This fog makes it hard to tell, but the Mist ninja seem to be maintaining a perimeter more than anything. They'll attack any target of opportunity, including civilians, but their heaviest resistance is when anyone tries to get deeper into the Uchiha compound."

"They're targeting the Uchiha specifically?" Gai asked sharply.

Asuma nodded glumly. "This fog bank and the Mist ninja are all here, and that maniac on the bird who was dropping bombs before the fog rolled in was only hitting this compound."

Gai considered that. "We must go to the aid of our fellows. Are you up to another assault on their lines?"

Asuma grinned and rolled his shoulders. "Sure." He flicked some blood off of his knives. "If we head for the center of the compound we'll run into them sooner or later." Putting action to words, he led the way.

Within a hundred yards they were set upon by sixteen Mist ninja, but the defenders were unprepared for the ferocity of their assault. Asuma's first jutsu was a blast of compressed air that threw back the mists, and then Lee and Gai tapped the Inner Gates and disappeared from sight, blurring into the enemy formation and striking anyone too slow to evade them with lethal force. That initial assault and loss of cover left the Mist ninja in disarray, and the Hyuuga closed in to mop up while Kurenai and Tenten hurled deadly illusions and dreadfully solid projectiles in waves.

"Do you know what the hell's going on?" Kurenai inquired quietly once they were separated from the melee fighters.

"Not a clue and I'm pissed about it. There had better be a damn good explanation for this… butchery," Tenten replied in a sick tone as a glimpse of more slaughtered civilians, one child cut down in the doorway of his home as he'd tried to flee.

"I'm glad to hear you say that. I hope there is an explanation for this, but I don't know what it could be. This isn't what I signed up for!"

Tenten had worked with Kurenai for more than a year as Naegi before she trusted the other woman enough to take off her mask after discussing it with Kabuto and Sasori. In her more restricted public face it helped to be able to have an ally with more freedom of movement who could have frequent contact with her publicly without arousing suspicion. As far as the rest of Konohagakure was concerned, the titular head of the Yuuhi clan and Lady Hyuuga were just good friends.

Once the Mist ninja were beaten the group of jounin headed deeper into the Uchiha compound. They were forced to divert around several buildings being consumed by an intensely hot fire that burned not orange or blue but pitch black. All of them could feel the sinister nature of the chakra in those flames.

Drawing close to the compound's central courtyard, they could see more gouts of ebony flame shooting above the mist, which thinned out as they approached, unable to compete with the heat. When they rounded the last corner they saw the source of the flames. Uchiha Itachi was there, engaged in a fierce battle with Fugaku and Taka. Mikoto's corpse lay nearby, her throat slit open by a sword strike and her dead eyes staring at the sky.

"It wasn't enough you killed your cousin and sullied our name, boy?" Fugaku's voice was heavy with grief as he crossed swords with his eldest son. "You had to come back and kill your kin? Your mother? Is there no end to your perfidy?"

"Come now father, we both know why I'm here. You're playing with forces you don't understand, and I cannot ignore your actions anymore." Itachi's voice was calm, neutral. He dodged a lance of black fire that shot from his father's right eye, and answered with a blast of his own. Fugaku evaded it, but Itachi had maneuvered his father between himself and Taka, and Amaya's grandfather was struck head on, the old man's screams fading in moments as the black flame consumed him.

_Damn it Itachi, what are you doing?_ Tenten raged internally. The last person she wanted to rescue was Uchiha Fugaku, but with this many of her fellow Leaf ninja around her she had to play along.

"Don't look him in the eyes!" Gai called out as they moved to aid Fugaku. Before they could reach him, however, three warriors clad in black robes with red clouds leapt from a nearby rooftop to bar their way.

"Sorry kids, this is a private party," Hoshigaki Kisame said, resting Samehada's tip on the stones before him.

"Please turn back," Hidan asked quietly, his three-bladed scythe gripped firmly in one hand. "This is nearly over, and too much blood has already been spilled today." His purple eyes were sad and angry both, though his anger didn't seem to be directed at them. At Hidan's side Kakuzu didn't speak, settling for looming in a suitably intimidating manner.

_Have you all lost your minds?_ Tenten wanted to scream, but couldn't. All she could do was watch two groups of her friends preparing to kill each other.

"You know we can't do that," Gai replied gravely. "Surrender and you'll be treated as prisoners of war."

Kakuzu snorted. "Can't tell if you're naïve or just really slick, but considering who you lot picked for Hokage, we'll take our chances."

There was nothing more that needed to be said. The two groups charged each other, weapons and jutsu at the ready. Tenten steered herself and Kurenai towards Hidan, figuring that of the three he was the least likely to kill them. _ I hope,_ she added mentally. As the others closed to melee range and the two kunoichi prepared their opening attacks, however, the air in front of them twisted and distorted, revealing a fourth black-robed figure with a one-eyed orange mask.

"Pretty ladies; play with Tobi!" the masked man exclaimed in a childish voice. Before either of them could do more than register a moment of incredulity Tobi grabbed each of them by a wrist. Tenten felt something like a sucking sensation that started at her belly button and washed over her whole body. She heard cries of consternation from her allies, then nothing as she fell in on herself.

When Tenten staggered away from Tobi's grip, it was to find herself in an unreal landscape. The sky was black and infinite, without stars. The landscape that stretched around her to the horizon was composed of square white pillars of various heights, no two adjacent at the same level, like a giant child's puzzle.

"Careful you don't fall, pretty ladies," Tobi cautioned from his perch sitting the edge of a pillar that rose above them, and Tenten turned to see that beyond the edge of the pillar she and Kurenai were on was a steep drop to the next one.

Tenten saw Kurenai's eyes flash angrily, and the air rippled between her and Tobi as she launched a genjutsu at him. The masked man rocked back in his seat and then laughed, clapping his hands. "They're lovely, Miss Yuuhi!" Tobi cried out happily. "Can you do more like them?" In response Kurenai hurled a kunai at him. Halfway through its journey it disappeared, and then reappeared when its tip was buried in the stone at Kurenai's feet. "Tobi's mama always said to be careful with sharp things," the masked man chided.

Tenten laid a hand on Kurenai's shoulder. "We need him alive for now, since he's the only one who can make an exit from this place." She didn't add that she doubted both of them together could even touch him. In her time training with the Akatsuki she'd only sparred against Tobi once, when Sasori had decided she was getting overconfident, and it had been a humiliating experience of tiring herself out trying to hit the childlike man without success. "Tobi, what's going on?" Tenten demanded. "Why are you attacking Konohagakure? This isn't what the Leader promised me!"

Tobi tilted his head, silent for a moment as if considering. Then he clapped his hands. "That's right! The Leader wanted me to bring you to him." He hopped down from his perch, drifting down to their level slower than gravity should have allowed. He held out his hands to them. "Ready for another jump?"

Kurenai eyed Tobi distrustfully as Tenten took his hand. "If he wanted to hurt us he could just leave us here, Kurenai," Tenten explained. Grudgingly, Kurenai put her hand in his.

"Whee!" Tobi exclaimed, and then they were drawn in on themselves once more. This time they emerged in familiar chambers of stone. Konan and the Leader were there, the rinnegan wielder sitting on a high-backed chair of stone while Konan stood at his side. Tobi vanished as quickly as he had delivered them, presumably returning to the battlefield.

Tenten watched Kurenai's anger temper itself with awe as she felt for the first time the sheer _presence_ that exuded from the Akatsuki's leader. Tenten was more used to it, and so less deterred. "What the hell is going on?" Tenten demanded, looking between the two. "Why is Akatsuki attacking Konohagakure without so much as mentioning it to me? I thought becoming a member meant I at least got some input on activities in my area of responsibility!"

Konan and the Leader both frowned, exchanging a glance before looking back at the simmering pair of kunoichi. "The nature of the operation required us to act quickly; there was a narrow time window available to us," the Leader replied slowly. "Zetsu was sent to warn you; I take it he wasn't able to find a moment when you were alone."

Pausing, Tenten rewound the last day in her head, and realized that she'd never been far enough from a Hyuuga for Zetsu to reveal himself. "No, he didn't," she admitted. "But putting that aside, what made you think the wholesale slaughter of the Uchiha clan was a good idea!"

For the first time Tenten saw the Leader look startled. "Tenten, the elimination of a handful of Uchiha is hardly a wholesale slaughter. I'm surprised at your objections; every one of Itachi's targets is both involved in the attempts on your life and a kinslayer to boot."

Tenten's jaw dropped. "Women and children, Pein?" Tenten half-yelled, using the Leader's name for the first time. "The elderly and civilians? We passed dozens of dead before Tobi snatched us away, and few of them were even trained ninja, much less in positions of leadership!"

The Leader's face became an expressionless mask, and Konan's eyes went wide, her hand covering her mouth. "Tenten, are you certain?" Konan asked slowly. "Itachi's mission was to remove his father and a handful of other clan leaders, no more. I do not doubt you, but we don't understand how events could have gone so badly awry."

"That bitch Terumi double-crossed us, that's how," Kisame's deep voice answered from behind Tenten, weariness and anger coloring his tone in equal measure. Tenten turned to see Tobi stepping back as Kisame limped into the room, his cloak and the armor underneath tattered, peppered with cuts and singed areas. None other than Itachi was leaning on his shoulder. Blood was trickling down Itachi's free arm, and a gash above his right eye had covered half of his face in red.

Once they were inside, Kisame slumped to the floor, sitting against the wall while Itachi stayed on his feet and leaned against it. Konan moved to see to their wounds while Pein examined the pair. "Explain." The single word was cold and deadly.

Kisame grimaced and then glanced at Tenten and Kurenai, taking in their obvious anger. "Zetsu didn't find you, did he?" the fish-faced man guessed. When Tenten shook her head he sighed. "That's about par for the course for this cock-up. Okay, long story short, Itachi and I took out the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura five days ago. We had help from rebels in Kirigakure; they held off the shinobi loyal to Yagura while we subdued him. They were led by a kekkei genkai user named Mei Terumi. We had an understanding with her; we took Yagura and dealt with her rivals so she'd be named Godaime Mizukage, and she lent us troops for today's operation. The Mist ninja were only supposed to maintain a perimeter and keep Leaf reinforcements out while we dealt with Fugaku and some other members of the Uchiha leadership who were doing some really heinous stuff and conspiring with Orochimaru. Are you with me so far?" Tenten nodded slowly.

"I'm guessing Mei gave her troops some secret orders, because as soon as Deidara took down the walls and we got the mist barrier in place, they sent out kill teams and started slaughtering every Uchiha they could find; women, children, old men on their deathbeds. They waited to start until we were engaged with a dozen Mangekyo-wielding Uchiha and couldn't stop them."

"A dozen of them?" Tenten asked in disbelief, looking at Itachi, who nodded grimly.

"I hope you understand why we had to act," Itachi asked quietly. "My father wasn't content to gain that forbidden power himself; he was manufacturing them as quickly as he could, and Orochimaru was close to unlocking the secret of the Mangekyo himself. Our intent was to eliminate the ready supply of Mangekyo sharingan in Konohagakure, and that is done, but thanks to Terumi the cost was far too high."

Tenten felt the blood drain from her face. "You… was it you that abducted Amaya?"

Itachi's eyes had drifted shut as Konan bandaged his wounds, but they shot open at those words. "Amaya is missing? No, I chose this timing because Amaya and Sasuke would be away from Konohagakure at the same time. Someone has abducted her?"

Tenten's heart hammered. "We were on our way to back up the squad tracking her kidnappers when we were diverted to the Uchiha compound by your attack." Now that she had an explanation for the day's insanity – albeit one she wasn't all that happy with – the pressing need to find Amaya and Kaede weighed on her again. She turned to Tobi, who was lurking in the shadows. "Can you take me to the border of the Land of Earth?"

Before Tobi could speak Kurenai's hand fell on Tenten's shoulder. "You're not thinking this through, Tenten," she said softly. "Disappearing off of the battlefield was unusual enough. Your enemy wouldn't take you where you want to go."

"Miss Yuuhi is right," Tobi agreed as he stepped forward, and in the light Tenten could see the weary droop of his shoulders and the trickle of blood coming from under his mask below its single eyehole. "Tobi has enough chakra for one more trip only. It must be to return the pair of you to Konohagakure."

Tenten sighed. "Yes, all right." There was so much more that needed to be said about the day's events, but her girls were more important; the rest could wait. She glanced at Kurenai. "Are we okay?"

Kurenai looked unhappy. "I don't know. I'm still not satisfied with what happened, but it's nice to know the Akatsuki didn't intend for all those deaths to occur." She looked at the full members in the room directly. "I assume you're not going to let something like this stand."

Itachi and the Leader both had hard looks in their eyes. "No, it will not," the Leader affirmed. "Mei Terumi may have thought the risk worth the reward in wiping out the Uchiha clan. She will be educated in the error of her ways."

"Pretty ladies ready?" Tobi asked cheerfully.

Tenten reached out for his hand but paused. "Wait. Where are Hidan and Kakuzu?"

Kisame sighed. "Tobi couldn't carry all of us, so they stayed behind to find their own way out."

A chill ran down Tenten's spine. Those two were skilled and both nearly immortal, but alone against Konohagakure's fury and with only traitorous allies… "Take us back, Tobi, please." She took one of the masked man's hands, and Kurenai took the other. Once more the vortex formed.

* * *

Tenten and Kurenai had been running towards Konohagakure for more than an hour when they heard the sounds of battle ahead. Moving more cautiously through the trees, they found more Mist ninja bodies, along with the occasional dead or wounded Leaf ninja. They reached the main battle to find Rock Lee and a handful of Hyuuga from Tenten's bodyguard finishing off the last of a Mist unit.

"Tenten!" Lee exclaimed when they emerged from the trees. "You're safe!" The Hyuuga clustered around her, clearly relieved.

"That masked freak had some kind of teleportation jutsu; he dumped us forty kilometers outside the village and vanished," Tenten explained. "Is everyone okay?"

Lee nodded. "Some injuries, but everyone's still alive. Gai-sensei, Asuma and Ko should be up ahead; the tall guy with the weird eyes got away, but they've cornered the scythe wielder."

Tenten suppressed a wince, forcing an eager smile. "Then let's go back them up!" They all took off at a run with Lee leading the way.

They soon emerged in a clearing; Hidan, looking battered and worse for the wear, was surrounded by Gai, Asuma and Ko. His scythe was in his left hand, his right hanging limp, and he had several bleeding wounds and contusions. Looking at him, Tenten realized that he was suppressing his healing abilities; he didn't want to reveal himself as a priest of Jashin and risk retaliation from the Hidden Villages against his order.

Even as Tenten watched, Gai and Ko launched a furious taijutsu assault against him. Forced to fight with his off hand, Hidan couldn't move fast enough to defend himself completely, and took more hits. Tenten saw the fatal blow coming and couldn't do a thing; Asuma slipped in behind Hidan and drive a trench knife expertly between his ribs, the shimmering wind chakra sheathing the blade punching clean through his chest and coming out the other side. Blood fountained from Hidan's lips and he collapsed.

"Tough bastard," Asuma commented.

Ko shivered. "Indeed. I'd like to know what kind of jutsu he was using on that weapon." He rubbed his leg, limping as he moved forward. Gingerly, he reached to pick up Hidan's three-bladed scythe, then hissed and withdrew as soon as his fingers touched it.

_I guess Ko's got some skeletons in his closet,_ Tenten mused, though she'd never tried touching Hidan's scythe himself. She'd killed enough people for money that she wasn't confident that it wouldn't inflict some pain for her sins. She put that thought out of her mind as another, more urgent problem occurred to her. She was pretty sure Hidan couldn't control his resurrection the way he could his regeneration, and if Jashin restored him now his nature would be revealed. That was something he clearly didn't want to happen.

Tenten considered what she knew of the holy man and tried to think of a way to remove his body from the sight of her allies before he was renewed, but came up blank. Then she remembered something else Hidan had told her about the mysteries of Jashin, and a plan began to form. Knowing she had just seconds to act Tenten moved forward, schooling her face to blankness and taking on a slow pace, like someone in a trance.

"Tenten?" Gai questioned as she brushed past him, forcing some tears into her eyes. Once she was past the others she let loose a frenzied scream and drew a kunai, dropping to her knees beside Hidan's body and raising the blade, offering a mental apology to the holy man as she did so. Then she brought it down as hard as she could into his head, caving in part of his skull. She struck several more times before her allies dragged her away, and by that time Hidan's head was an unrecognizable mess of gore and pulverized bone.

What she'd remembered was that the healing of Jashin had limits. If the damage to the body was too severe, the Lord of Justice revived his follower another way. The order of Jashin was known for being willing to take in and care for invalids, those with terminal illnesses, brain injuries or who had slipped into a coma. Their initiates would look after those unfortunates well and without charge. When the body of a priest of Jashin was mangled too badly to be resurrected, Jashin would instead guide their spirit into a new vessel, and they would be reborn in a new body. Hidan would wake up in a temple of Jashin, far from Konohagakure.

Tenten felt strong hands on her shoulders, and looked up with tear-blurred eyes to see Gai's concerned face. "Tenten! What's gotten into you?" her former teacher demanded.

_Kami I hate having to play the 'emotional female' card, but here goes._ She buried her face in his chest, sobbing. "When I… when I was their prisoner, he…" she choked out. "He was the one who…" Tenten trailed off. "Kami, I don't want to remember!" From the corner of her eye she saw Gai and Lee go pale, while Asuma coughed uncomfortably and anger crossed Ko's face as he looked back at the mangled corpse. Kurenai had put on a mask of concern, but beneath it was a knowing, almost amused look.

Gai put his arms around her. "It's all right, Tenten. He's dead; he can't hurt you."

Tenten allowed herself to be comforted, and once she dried her eyes the males in the group seemed eager to move on, filling her and Kurenai in on what had happened in their absence as they made their way back to the village. Konohagakure's defenders had overwhelmed the Mist invaders once the Akatsuki withdrew, but the butcher's bill was ghastly. The Mist ninja had killed quite a few of the defenders, including one of the Hyuuga jounin in her bodyguard, but the real damage was to the Uchiha clan. "The medics and reserves were picking through the rubble when we left, but it didn't look good. I'd be surprised if there were more than a handful of survivors in the entire clan," Asuma explained grimly. "That damned Itachi managed a clean sweep of the clan's leaders, too; he got Fugaku after you were spirited away."

"It's more important than ever that we find Amaya," Gai added. "Not to mention Sasuke; he's going to have to take charge of whatever's left of his clan." He looked at Tenten carefully. "We should move out on our original mission as soon as possible; given the chaos in the village right now the Hokage may not have time to issue new orders for a while. Are you okay to travel?"

Tenten managed a wan smile. "You couldn't stop me. But you're all walking wounded. Let's get you patched up first and then we can hit the road." It was a testament to how drained Gai, Asuma and Ko were from the fighting that they didn't argue much before letting Tenten and Kurenai herd them into the medic's tent.

* * *

"Well this is a fucking disaster," Orochimaru murmured, rubbing his eyes. He was sitting behind his desk in his office. Like most people in the Hokage's tower, he hadn't slept in the two days since the slaughter of the Uchiha clan. "Danzo, how the hell did this get past you?"

The elder Shimura, who looked as tired as Orochimaru felt, sighed. "My spies are limited by how fast a message can physically travel. The Akatsuki, it seems, are beyond such trivial concerns. The last pieces that made sense of this just trickled in this afternoon."

Something in Danzo's tone made Orochimaru look up sharply. "How bad is it?"

"Bad enough; Yagura is dead."

"I gathered that when his village's ninja attacked us. What happened?"

"What we were afraid of. The Akatsuki got him. Then they proceeded to replace him with some young firebrand with a flashy kekkei genkai named Mei Terumi. She's expelled the embassies of all four other villages including ours, and she got about a third of my spies in the purge that followed. She's pulling Kirigakure out of the alliance, and we just experienced the exclamation point on that political shift."

"And she'll get away with it, at least in the short term," Orochimaru concluded.

Anko, sitting at his side, blinked in surprise. "Orochi, we beat them by ourselves in the Second War. If we attack with Kumogakure we'll outnumber them better than four to one, and A will do it; he's been salivating over the Land of Water's northern archipelago for years."

Orochimaru shook his head slowly. "We beat them because they invaded us, Anko. On land Mist ninja are no more formidable than any other shinobi, but on the open ocean? We'd lose four for every one we killed, and as soon as we invade them the Water Daimyo will bring his fleet to bear regardless of how he feels about this rebel Terumi personally."

"So we're just going to ignore this?" Anko asked.

"In the short term," Orochimaru repeated. "We'll send assassins to try and remove this rebel Mizukage, and I'm sure A will do the same. In the meantime we _can_ compel the Fire and Lightning Daimyos to close their borders to the Land of Water. An embargo will inflict significant pain on the Land of Water's merchant marine, and the magnates who control those cartels may even apply enough pressure to remove Terumi for us once they learn why every port outside their borders is suddenly closed to them."

Orochimaru took a sip of tea that had gone lukewarm from a cup on his desk. "The mission to recover Uchiha Amaya; did they still make it out?"

Anko had to leaf through some of her notes before nodding. "Maito Gai's team was diverted by the attack on the Uchiha compound, but they left shortly thereafter on their own initiative to pursue the original mission."

"Good, good; making sure Sasuke and that girl return safely is more important now than ever."

Something about the look that passed between Orochimaru and Danzo sent a chill down Anko's spine, but she ignored it and moved on to the next item on the agenda. "Today's report on the wounded from the hospital…"

* * *

After her kunoichi seal was broken, counting the days became far simpler for Uchiha Amaya. Each evening Kusana brought another of Grun's brothers or cousins to her cell. Four days had passed, and there hadn't been a repeat yet.

Taciturn Coru, the eldest brother, had been the first night. Night two had been the second born: Rino of the scholarly bent and nasal voice. He wasn't much of a ninja, or much of anything. Even blindfolded and with her arms bound Amaya had been able to fight him off until others came to hold her down. The third night had been Mieru, the youngest with Grun gone. Mieru was quiet and apologetic but more capable; he'd managed to pin her by himself. The fourth night was Krin, the first of the cousins. He was much older, in his late thirties and apparently married, but he had no problem violating an eighteen year old prisoner.

Amaya remembered each name. She remembered each voice. She remembered the ways their bodies felt, and pictured what she imagined them to look like. Coru was hard and cruel like Grun. Rino was slender and effeminate with narrow features. Mieru was short and stocky, the lines of his frame softer than his brothers. Krin sported a bristly beard and the beginnings of a thickening waistline.

Amaya remembered each of them, and imagined how she would kill them. Even if it came down to nothing more than a fantasy, it was keeping her sane. Each day, the fire leashed behind her eyes burned hotter, and Amaya immersed herself in that heat, waiting for the moment when she could let it loose.

Sometimes when Amaya lay quietly and listened to the guards outside the door of her cell, she heard things. Heard them talk about patrols sent out from the abandoned quarry where the Toma had set up shop. Heard them gossip about life back in Iwagakure. Late at night, she even heard them whisper superstitious nonsense about the quarry being haunted, and a shadowy figure glimpsed from the corner of the eye, or sensed but not seen.

When the cell door opened on the fifth night, Amaya ran through her mantra in her head. _I will not cry. I will not beg. I will not lie quietly. I will kill every living Toma. Kusana will be last. She doesn't get to die until she sees every one of her sons dead before her._

Instead of being introduced to another rapist, however, Amaya was lifted up by silent hands. "Good news, Uchiha bitch," Kusana said with poisonous glee in her tone. "The surgeon is here. He's eager to get started, so let's not keep him waiting.

Amaya fought them, but was half-dragged, half-carried through the quarry's narrow halls and into another room. There she was thrown none to gently onto an operating table, her arms and legs strapped down tightly enough that the coarse leather cut into her skin, and her head forced into a brace that held it immobile despite her best efforts. "Ah! Delectable," a man's reedy voice exclaimed as the Toma secured her. "She is undamaged, I trust?"

Kusana snorted. "The eyes should be pristine; the solvent to remove the flesh-bonding glue from the bandages is here. Beyond that, the rest is up to you, so I leave you to your work. And remember, doctor; the eyes only. No damage to the rest of her; I still have use for what's left."

"Yes, yes, I understand. Now please, leave us. This is a most delicate procedure." The ghoulish eagerness in the man's voice turned Amaya's stomach.

"Of course; let the men outside know when you're done, and they'll escort you back to town." Kusana's steps faded, but she paused at the door. "Once the good doctor is done we'll get back to _our _work, Uchiha bitch. I still have a lot of nephews you haven't met yet."

Beyond fruitless testing of her restraints, Amaya could do little but wait. The stranger rubbed something over the bandages that covered her eyes; it stung slightly where it touched exposed skin, but she could feel the bandages, which had been rigid and surprisingly resilient, return to being soft and loose.

"There now, that's simple enough," the doctor mused as he peeled away the layers. "I'm sure you won't be dissuaded, but your eye tricks will be quite ineffective against me. You'll see when you adjust to the light."

Once the bandages were gone, even the light against her close eyelids was bright, and when Amaya cautiously opened her eyes, the light shining on her was blinding. Eyes watering, it took some time before she could see, and when she did, she looked at the man who had dared to _buy_ her eyes.

He was old; she guessed him to be older than her grandfather, his skin wrinkled and spotted, his frame thin and gnarled like old wood. White hair that was slightly yellowed fell to his shoulders, and his long white coat was spotted with old stains that looked like blood and other bodily fluids. Black gloves sheathed his hands to the elbow as he leaned over her.

Amaya's eyes sought out his, ready to test herself against whatever defense he had concocted, only to gaze in dismay at slack eyelids that drooped over empty sockets. The old man had no eyes.

He smiled, revealing uneven, yellow teeth. "I have been a chakra sensor all my life, young Uchiha," he said. "I removed my eyes before beginning this journey; yours will serve me far better, I think, and none of your clan's sharingan's tricks will harm a blind man."

He was right, and Amaya felt her last hope dying as the old man started humming, picking up a scalpel. A wave of resignation swept through her. _This more than anything Kusana has done, I deserve. This is my penance. I'm sorry, Ken._

That thought of her old teammate triggered something. Amaya felt the heat that had been building behind her eyes since she woke up in Kusana's grasp spike; then it leapt free, her Mangekyo sharingan forming in an instant. Amaya gasped as her chakra started draining away through her eyes at an alarming rate. Half of it was gone in seconds, and it didn't stop. Three quarters, nine-tenths; Amaya started fighting the draw when she felt her limbs going cold and numb. Just when she started worrying that she wasn't going to have enough chakra left to keep her heart beating it stopped, leaving her drained and exhausted. The old doctor looked at her curiously. "And what was that, my dear?" he inquired idly, but Amaya was too busy catching her breath to reply.

The old man never saw the room's shadows swirl and distort behind him. Darkness poured itself into a humanoid figure, one that gained solidity with each instant that passed until the shadow stopped flowing, and with a quiet pop of displaced air, a physical body occupied that space.

The doctor didn't hear it, so fixated was he on Amaya. He lowered the fine-bladed scalpel closer to her face, and began humming to himself again. Then his head jerked back, and Amaya saw callused hands wrapped in bandages from palm to wrist grab and twist, a sick pop filling her ears as the doctor's neck snapped like a wet twig.

A moment later another man was standing over her, this one her own age. He was almost as tall as she was, and solidly muscular. He had short, spiky red hair and piercing grey eyes. He wore a black bodysuit with a few pouches here and there for gear, and she could see the outlines of heavy training weights around his forearms. When he moved closer she could see from the corner of her eye that his belt buckle was a hitai-ate plate, though its logo was unfamiliar to her. It was simply the character for 'shinobi' rather than a village's emblem.

The stranger stared at Amaya for a moment, and she stared back. Then a stunned and almost reverent look crossed his face. "Amaya?" Despite the disbelief in his voice, it was a pleasant, youthful baritone, and when she heard it everything clicked.

"Ken?" Amaya replied, and her shock easily matched his.

"I saw you die!" Isamu Ken and Uchiha Amaya blurted out at the same time.

* * *

_Author's Note: In my outline for this section I had originally intended for Amaya to manifest Amaterasu as her Mangekyo ability and incinerate her way to freedom, but when I was finishing last chapter this idea came to me and I liked it better. Amaya's not a member of Itachi/Sasuke or Obito's lines, so rather than copying their abilities, I thought it would be fun to create an entirely new one. What exactly is it? Amaya will have to find out!_


	34. Mysteries of the Sharingan

**Chapter 34: Mysteries of the Sharingan**

* * *

"Someone's picked up our trail," Ken said quietly. It took a few seconds for those words to make it through the haze of exhaustion clouding Amaya's mind. Whatever her sharingan did to bring him to her side had taken her to the edge of chakra exhaustion. Without Ken she could barely walk, and even with her arm slung over his shoulder her abused muscles protested each movement.

"Promise me, Ken," Amaya demanded.

"I'm not going to kill you, Amaya," Ken replied firmly. "They won't stop us."

Amaya growled under her breath. After Ken had killed the doctor and freed her from his operating table, they'd been able to sneak out of the quarry and into the surrounding scrub forest, limping into the night as best they could. Ken on his own could have outrun pursuit, but half-carrying her slowed him down, and Amaya knew the Toma would catch up to them eventually. She'd spent the time trying to convince him to kill her if they couldn't escape, but he was just as stubborn as the boy she remembered.

"I can't go back, Ken," Amaya insisted. "I won't. Give me a kunai if you can't do it yourself."

Ken gave her a level look before sliding a pair of kunai from his holster and giving them to her. "Those are to protect yourself, not what you've been going on about. They won't take you back, Amaya. I won't let them," Ken declared firmly.

"You can't promise that," Amaya said, slipping the weapons into the pocket of the long white coat she wore. She's taken it off of the doctor's corpse and it smelled faintly of chemicals, but it was better than being half-naked. "There are a lot of them, and some are strong; stronger than Grun. Please, Ken."

"We'll get through this Amaya. I swear. Now I need to listen."

Amaya bit back her next comment. After a little while she could hear it too, under the rustling of the leaves; boots striking the loam. Whoever was chasing them had abandoned stealth and was simply going all-out.

When they reached a clearing, Ken guided Amaya over to a sheltered alcove in the trunk of a tree, where the shadow was deep and the light of the moon above didn't reach. "There's just one guy following us. I'm going to get rid of him. Sit tight."

"Ken, no," Amaya pleaded, nausea and panic churning in her gut. "Don't…" her throat closed up. _Don't leave me. Don't die again. Don't let them take me back._

"Amaya it'll be all right. I'll be right back." Then he slipped away, stepping into the light confidently.

Across the clearing a single shinobi emerged from between the trees, and Amaya's breath caught in her throat. She'd never seen his face before, but she knew this was Coru. He looked like Grun, but older and not quite so massive, in his mid-thirties and close to Ken's size. He had a neatly trimmed goatee, and wore the red and brown of Iwagakure, though his uniform was that of a jounin. The golden cord hanging from his shoulder had three knots in it, and Amaya's breath froze in her throat. _Each of those knots represents five years as a jounin of Iwagakure,_ she remembered from old lessons.

Coru grunted at the sight of Ken waiting for him. "So you're the one who sprung the Uchiha. Hand her over and maybe you live through the night."

"You're one of the ones who abused her, then?" Ken asked, and his voice was ice, cold like Amaya had never heard before.

Coru grinned crudely. "So you're a friend of the little cunt? I fucked her, sure, and when I was done she begged for more. Has she spread her legs for you, too? Let you taste those juicy tits?"

Amaya felt bile rise in her throat, and had to fight the urge to vomit.

Ken shook his head slowly. "Unyouthful," he said quietly. Then he settled into a familiar taijutsu stance. "You don't know me, so I'll tell you who I am. You stand before the Black Beast of Konohagakure. My sensei would probably try to convince you of the error of your ways. I'm just going to kill you."

A cloud drifted in front of the moon, extinguishing the silvery light in the clearing and plunging everything into darkness. Amaya couldn't see more than the outlines of shadows as Coru and Ken blurred into motion. Within seconds she'd completely lost track of which was which. Even with her sharingan active Amaya could barely follow their movements. Both were tapping the Inner Gates, and their exchanges of blows sounded like thunderclaps.

Amaya had watched Ken train with Lee-sensei when they were young, but this was different. It was faster, and this was no spar. She watched branches and trunks splinter, almost exploding from missed or deflected hits.

Ken and Coru were moving so fast that Amaya couldn't say who made the first mistake or even if there was one. She heard a sick 'crunch' as one fighter put his fist through the other's sternum up to the wrist. The stricken combatant crumpled to the forest floor without a sound.

Not even breathing, Amaya slid a kunai from her pocket. She felt the survivor's eyes fall on her, and wished she'd gotten rid of the white coat; surely it was visible even in the gloom of the nighttime forest. Footsteps, boots compressing loam and dry leaves as the shadow approached her. Heart hammering, Amaya flipped the blade around, positioning the tip below her breast. Ken could talk about defending herself, but if Coru had won she was too drained to beat him, and she would _not_ go back to the quarry.

When she'd been a prisoner, Amaya had managed to keep the fear at bay through force of will, but a taste of freedom and hope has sapped her resolve, and she felt panic closing in at the thought of going back to that cell, of being blind and bound and used again and again until there was nothing left of her. Her body went tense as she prepared to drive the kunai home into her heart.

Strong hands captured her wrists before she could complete the motion, and Amaya experienced a moment of icy terror before the moon emerged from behind the clouds. Ken gripped her wrists, concern for her writ on his features. He carefully pried the kunai from her grip, and she let him. In the center of the clearing Coru lay on his back, sightless eyes to the sky and a messy hole in the center of his chest. His skin was the dark brown of the Doton: Domu, but it hadn't helped him in the end.

Ken didn't say anything as he helped her back to her feet. She could feel the warmth of his skin, almost unpleasantly hot as he came down from the Inner Gates. She could smell his sweat, and knew by the hesitant way he moved that he was suffering from the countless small muscle tears that the kinjutsu inflicted on its users.

In silence, they continued south.

* * *

"I heard your voice," Ken told Amaya, hours later. "I've been hearing it for weeks." They hadn't seen any signs of pursuit since leaving Coru's body behind.

"I'm not complaining, but… you're dead. I held your corpse in my arms. I watched your mother bury you," Amaya replied. She didn't add that she'd had to hide from his family and watch from the trees.

There hadn't been time to consider the impossibility of Ken's appearance while they were in the quarry and during their initial flight, but now they had nothing but time. "You keep saying the things that should be coming out of my mouth, Amaya," Ken replied. "I held your hand while you bled out; your grandparents wouldn't let me attend your funeral."

Once again Amaya felt a sense of dissonance, of being next to someone as familiar to her as any member of her family, hearing him say things that were wrong but sounded right. In the quarry Ken had expressed disbelief that anyone from Iwagakure would raise a hand against her, because he was under the impression that Tenten-sensei was married to the _Tsuchikage_, someone named Deidara. Yet he sounded totally sincere, even though that wasn't the Tsuchikage's name and their sensei was married to Hyuuga Neji.

"So tell me, how did I die?" Amaya found herself asking. She was still trying to get a handle on what exactly her Mangekyo sharingan had done in that operating room. At first she thought it had simply translated her desperation into an exceptionally solid genjutsu, but the more she observed this new Ken, the less sure she was.

Ken was silent for a while before speaking. "It was that damned Chuunin Exam. I lost both of you in Sky City. Grun killed Kaede in the second set of matches, and then you challenged him to a death match in the third set and I had to watch him kill you, too. I faced him in the championship match and killed him." Ken's voice was detached, in the manner of someone working past a deep wound. "He was my first kill, you know. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be." Amaya nodded silently. He hadn't hesitated in the slightest when striking Coru down.

"Well I didn't lose to Grun," Amaya replied, "and Kaede didn't die." For a moment she was reminded that Kaede could be dead now for all she knew, but she pushed past it. "She forfeited after wounding him, and he almost got me, but I fried him with the lightning jutsu I learned from Soren."

Ken frowned. "That white-haired guy you killed with his own sword? He never used a lightning jutsu on you."

Amaya felt a chill run down her spine as she visualized the way events could have played out differently. If not for her stolen Raiton: Rakkasora Grun probably would have killed her; nothing else in her arsenal at the time could have penetrated his armor.

Then Ken asked the question she'd been dreading since she saw him. "So… how did I die?"

She didn't answer right away, and after a few seconds she could feel his curious gaze. "I killed you," she admitted. "The championship match of the Chuunin Exam wasn't you and Grun, it was you and me."

He was quiet for a while, and Amaya winced, imagining what he must think of that. "Wow. I must have really screwed up, huh?" Ken observed, laughing quietly. "That's embarrassing. What did I do wrong?"

Amaya's gaze rose to look at him in disbelief. He was wearing a sheepish half-grin. "No, I…" Amaya sighed. "It was my fault. I hit you too hard and broke your neck. The worst part is I didn't even want to win; I wanted you to have the champion's prize, but I was so busy making sure you wouldn't suspect that I didn't see you lose the Inner Gates."

Ken stopped walking, and the smile faded from his face. He slipped her arm off of his shoulder, helping her sit down by the roadside, crouching in front of her. The disappointed look on his face was almost more than she could bear, but Amaya reminded herself that it was less than she deserved. "How long ago did that happen? Has it been three years for you, too?"

Amaya nodded wordlessly, feeling tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry Ken," she whispered miserably. "I'm so sorry."

Ken's arms wrapped around her, and she was crushed to his chest. "Stop Amaya," he pleaded, and she was shocked to the core to feel his tears on her cheek. "Please stop. Every time I heard your voice these last few weeks you were saying that. I thought I was just losing it; having flashbacks to the Chuunin Exam when you died apologizing for failing to avenge Kaede, but that's not what you've been saying, is it?" Ken drew back, his hands gripping her shoulders. "Have you been punishing yourself for three years over an accident?"

When Amaya didn't deny it Ken sighed. "Do you know what Lee-sensei told me when I asked him to teach me the Inner Gates? The first dozen or so times he just said no. After that he told me if I used them I'd be dead before I was thirty, and if that was what I wanted, to die young."

"Then why…" Amaya trailed off, confused.

"If you wanted me to win the championship then you understand why I became a ninja." Amaya nodded. "I went to the Academy so my father would have one less mouth to feed, and so one day I could make sure my sisters didn't go hungry in the winter, so I could make sure they got good husbands, not just some random lout who was willing to take them off of my father's hands. I told Lee-sensei I wanted to be a jounin before I was twenty, I needed the Inner Gates to do that, and if it meant I died at thirty I'd take that deal."

"You know why Maito Gai's a legend in the taijutsu community? He used the Inner Gates and lived past forty. I knew going in it was a kinjutsu that would kill me someday, and I'm so sorry that my lack of control saddled you with that kind of guilt."

Amaya just stared at Ken for a while, shocked out of her remorse and depression. Then she scowled at him and punched him in the shoulder.

"Oww," Ken complained. "What was that for?"

"Idiot!" Amaya yelled, punching him again. The third time he caught her wrist and she glared at him through tears in her eyes. "How can you say that? Do you think your mother and your sisters were weeping for your paycheck when they buried you? I gave your dad the champion's purse, but he didn't want it. He wanted his son! You said you saw us die; well how do you think Kaede felt in your shoes? You were her brother in every way that mattered." Amaya's tirade wound down and she took a few shuddering breaths.

"You want to know what the last three years were like? I loved you Ken," Amaya was surprised how easily it came out for all that she'd never admitted it to anyone before. "I felt your neck break under my boot and no matter what sensei or Kaede or anyone else said I had to go on knowing that it was my responsibility. I killed you, and these eyes that created you, or summoned you, or whatever it was that just happened, have been my reminder every day of what I did. So don't you _dare_ ever talk about your life like it doesn't matter, because it does!"

"Amaya, I…" Ken started out.

"Don't," she cut him off. "I'm still mad at you." Suddenly he was laughing. She socked him again with a growl, which made him laugh harder. "What's so funny?" Amaya demanded irritably.

Ken wiped tears from his eyes. "You, this… everything. Kami I've missed you, Amaya."

Amaya's grumpiness faded in the presence of Ken's mirth. She could never stay mad at him, and the wonder of it was starting to creep in. Ken was back, and if he was an illusion, it was the best illusion ever.

Ken perked up suddenly. "So Kaede's still alive here, too?"

That deflated Amaya. "I don't know; they separated us. That horrid bitch who captured us said some of the Aburame clan's enemies were going to dissect her. I don't know if she's still alive or not."

Ken jumped to his feet. "Well then we have to find her!"

Amaya let him help her back up. "How are we going to do that, Ken? Kaede's the tracker, remember? We're just the muscle." Ken chuckled at that old joke as they continued on their way. "I have to believe she's okay. Kiran's probably rescued her by now if she didn't escape herself. He's good enough to take on three guys, so I know he slipped his pursuit and got help. He could find Kaede anywhere."

"Who's Kiran?" Ken replied.

"Kaede's fiancé," Amaya replied, almost falling when Ken stumbled.

"Kaede's getting married?" Ken asked, eyes wide.

Amaya grinned. "Yup, she's getting hitched to one of the most handsome and eligible bachelors in the Land of Lightning. He's the heir of a merchant clan with more money than they know what to do with, and he's a pretty good shinobi for a guy who only spent a few years on active duty."

"Wow. So how about you? Have your grandparents picked someone out for you yet?" Amaya glanced at Ken, trying to determine what was behind his forced tone when he asked.

Amaya was about to say no, but paused when she thought about it. "They might have by now," she admitted. "Kaede and I haven't been home in more than a year. We just finished a three year tour as members of the Lightning Daimyo's royal guard; that's how Kaede met Kiran. My grandparents and I haven't corresponded much, so for all I know they do have a betrothal contract waiting when I get home." Amaya felt a new unease as she thought about it; she'd regarded an eventual arranged marriage as a given her entire life and had never worried about it before. Now the thought of it – marrying some man she probably didn't know and sharing his bed – made her sick to her stomach.

Ken felt the tension running through her body as she leaned against him. "I'm sorry; it was inconsiderate of me to ask."

Amaya shook her head. "It's all right. I just haven't thought about it in a while."

They moved on to safer topics after that, catching up on each other's lives as they walked through the night.

* * *

"So the Hokage's dead where you're from? Wow," Amaya commented hours later. Orochimaru had been an institution in Konohagakure for Amaya's whole life.

"Yeah, the whole five village alliance was taken apart more than a year ago. Most people call it the 'Tyrant's Pact' now. It's funny, because the big five villages are still allies, we even wear the same hitai-ate as a gesture of solidarity," he pointed to his belt, "but the kages are all new and mostly young."

"How'd that happen?"

"You remember those terrorists who captured Tenten-sensei in Sunagakure? The Akatsuki? Well they pretty much run the show now. One day things were normal, the next the Hokage tower explodes, there's a huge battle in the rubble, and when the dust settles most of the village's leadership is dead and there's a few guys in black cloaks with red clouds dictating to the survivors. Apparently they did that in all the villages at once. Then the guy in charge, this shinobi with purple eyes named Pein, rounded up representatives from all the villages and obliterated a mountain with one jutsu in front of them. He basically told them that they could reform the alliance and stop dictating to the daimyos, or he'd do that to all of the hidden villages. Everyone was scared at first, but things actually got better. The Konohagakure council tracked down this old lady named Tsunade who used to be Orochimaru's teammate and convinced her to become the next Hokage."

"Yeah, that's… different," Amaya admitted. "Orochimaru's still very much in charge, unless someone blew him up in the last few weeks. Tenten-sensei's part of the Inner Council these days, according to her letters; she attends with Lord Neji."

"Still can't believe sensei's married to that cold fish. I like Deidara better; he has a measurable sense of humor, at least."

Amaya snorted. "Neji is perfect for sensei, he's kind and cultured and devoted to her."

"Cold fish," Ken repeated.

"It's called dignity and class, Ken. You wouldn't understand," Amaya pointed out with an arch look.

"Yeah, yeah," Ken waved a hand dismissively.

They'd travelled a few more kilometers and the eastern sky was starting to brighten with the darn when movement in the trees attracted their attention. A cloud of insects emerged, zeroing in on them, and the pair relaxed when they saw that they were kikai beetles. The tiny bugs flitted around Amaya, buzzing in a display of insectoid excitement, and she recognized the tone of their wings. "These are Kaede's bugs! I guess she did get out okay." Then a chill ran through her. "They think you're dead."

"Huh?"

She whipped around to face him. "Ken, Kaede thinks you're dead, and so will anyone who's with her. I can't explain to them why you're here. You have to hide, or… something!" Amaya swore after she thought about it for another moment. "No, this is Kaede; you'll never be able to hide from her. Dammit. Can I send you back? I don't even know how I got you here…"

"Don't send me away yet," Ken said, looking alarmed at the prospect. "I don't want to give up this chance to see you two again."

Amaya hissed in frustration, aware that Kaede would be drawing closer. "Ken, if too many questions get asked about why you're alive I'll die here, too. The Hokage will execute me. When you died my sharingan got a power I'm not supposed to have. C'mon, we have to hide you somehow."

Ken's blanched at that prospect, and he looked thoughtful for a moment before his face brightened. "I know! There's a trick Tenten-sensei taught me." He slipped a small piece of paper with a fuuinjutsu design drawn on it from a pocket and gripped it between his hands as he formed a hand sign. "Henge!" Ken vanished for a moment in a puff of smoke, and when it cleared he had changed. It wasn't major, just hair and eyes that had darkened to a muddy brown, but combined with the fact that he was three years older, it made him visually distinct from Isamu Ken.

Amaya was about to tell him that a basic henge wasn't going to fool anyone for long, but before she spoke it registered that his chakra wasn't the same either. He even smelled different. "Sensei knows how to do that?" Amaya asked in surprise. Then nine shinobi and three ninken burst out of the trees, and there wasn't any more time to talk.

Kaede broke from the pack, running across the grass and jumping the ditch to reach Amaya. "You're alive!" The Aburame girl even went so far as to hug her, something she rarely did and never in front of others. Amaya had to let go of Ken to meet her, and Kaede looked concerned when she felt how weak and unsteady on her feet Amaya was. "Are you okay?"

Amaya nodded. "I'm in one piece, Kaede; just tired. Escaping wasn't easy." Looking past Kaede, she was surprised to see Sasuke and more surprised still to see what looked like genuine relief as he moved forward to support her without complaint. When she saw him examining her eyes closely, she gave him a wry smile. _There_ was the cold bastard she knew. "They tried to take them," she told him quietly, "and failed."

"Did you leave any of these Toma alive?" Sasuke's voice had no more emotion than if he'd asked, 'have you taken out the trash'. He was simply trying to determine if there was anyone left he needed to kill.

Amaya sighed. "I wasn't in any shape to finish the job by the time I got free. The clan leader Kusana, two of her sons and her nephews are still alive. I imagine they've fled when they couldn't find me." She saw something hard enter Sasuke's eyes at the mention of sons and nephews. She saw the unasked question on his face and shook her head minutely. _Later._

"Who is this?" Sasuke asked, his hard eyes turning to Ken. Shino, Shibi, Kiran and Hanabi's team had stepped between them, and Ken was doing his best to look innocent and harmless.

"Another prisoner they were holding," Amaya answered immediately, not waiting to find out if Ken was as poor a liar as he'd been three years ago. "He helped me escape, killed one of our pursuers. I owe him my life."

Sasuke sized him up and then nodded curtly. "Then you have the gratitude of the Uchiha. What's your name, and what village are you from?"

Amaya winced when she saw that Ken's henge hadn't hidden his belt with the strange hitai-ate, but he spoke up before she could come up with something. "My name is Kano, and I don't belong to any village, sir," Ken replied, and Amaya realized he had gotten better at lying. He'd changed his accent on the fly, and his body language as well as his voice conveyed humility and deference to village-backed ninja. "I was raised in a temple of the Order of Stone. Some of the monks there were retired ninja, and they taught me a few things, but I've travelled on my own since I left the temple."

Amaya resisted the urge to cheer; he'd given her the perfect opening. "I asked Kano to come to Konohagakure with me after we escaped; he's more than skilled enough to pass the trials." Missing-nin – those who'd had a village and abandoned it – weren't trusted in any village, but those shinobi simply trained outside of a village were usually afforded an opportunity to join one if they displayed the necessary skill and were sponsored by an existing clan.

"Hn. We'll see. In the meantime, he's welcome to travel with us," Sasuke replied.

"We should get moving. Why? We are still within the borders of the Land of Earth without invitation," Shino reminded them. Amaya resisted the urge to give the Aburame heir a dirty look; she was exhausted and wanted nothing more than some sleep, but he was right. Time enough to collapse when they were out of hostile territory. In the interest of speed, Sasuke simply picked her up, and the group headed south.

* * *

By the time evening fell again the party of two Uchiha, three Aburame, Hanabi's team, Kiran and Ken had slipped back across the border. They made camp for the night in the northern forests of the Land of Fire. Amaya had been tired enough to sleep while Sasuke carried her, so now she sat by the fire listening to the others slumber as she shared a watch with Hanabi, who reclined against a tree trunk nearby.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hanabi asked after they'd sat in silence for a while.

"Talk about what?" Amaya replied.

Hanabi gave her a serious look. "The others can't see under those clothes Amaya, but I can. You're covered in bruises and poorly healed wounds, and your kunoichi seal is gone."

Amaya shuddered, hugging herself as she was reminded that the flowing white blouse and slacks she wore, a spare outfit of Hanabi's. "Don't look at me," she snapped.

Most people in Konohagakure were at least intellectually aware that the byakugan of the pale-eyed Hyuuga pierced clothing as easily as walls, and got used to it. The Hyuuga in turn were proper to a fault, and politely ignored whatever they may or may not have seen. Being around Hanabi and other Hyuuga had never bothered Amaya before, but now it made her distinctly ill at ease.

"Suit yourself," Hanabi said with a shrug, the bulging veins around her eyes fading into her skin. Rising to her feet, she headed out beyond the fire's light.

Amaya sat alone by the fire for a time, silent and lost in her thoughts. The next time she heard footsteps she looked up to see Sasuke step out of the shadows. "Walk with me," was all he said. Without waiting to see if she obeyed he headed back into the trees. For a moment Amaya was tempted to ignore him, but the temptation passed, and she got to her feet with a sigh, following after the older Uchiha.

"If you don't want to discuss details, you don't need to," Sasuke began without preamble. "Konohagakure and our clan have counselors that can help, if you wish. That said I need to know, at least in a general sense, what happened."

"Why?" Amaya demanded, barely keeping a growl out of her voice.

"Because it's almost certain that we will be forced to declare vendetta against the Toma clan, and when I report to my father and the elders they'll want to know what transpired. So you can tell them, or you can tell me and I'll do it."

Amaya winced at the thought of having to recount her experiences to Fugaku and her grandparents. She didn't really want to talk to _anyone_ about it, but that didn't seem to be an option. "You know the man I killed in the Chuunin Exam was a Toma?" Sasuke nodded shortly. "His mother decided to take revenge. Kiran and Kaede have probably told you about the ambush already. They drugged me and I woke up in the Land of Earth. Kusana, the clan leader, figured out a way to remove my kunoichi seal. It's gone. Then Grun's brothers… they raped me." Amaya shivered, saying it aloud for the first time. "They wanted to use me to make Toma with potential to develop the sharingan. They also sold my eyes to a stranger whose name was never spoken. He had medical training, though. He was about to cut out my eyes himself when Kano got free and killed him."

"I see." Sasuke placed his hand on Amaya's shoulder, and she suppressed the urge to flinch away, seeing that he was attempting to be somewhat familial. "They will not get away with this, Amaya. You made the right decision, leaving while you had a chance. There will be a reckoning between us and the Toma, and they will find the price far too high in the end."

"I know," Amaya replied. "I intend to be there when it's time for them to pay. When I'm not outnumbered twenty-to-one or hurt and exhausted."

Sasuke nodded. "About that; how did you lose so much chakra? When we found you your chakra was almost gone."

Amaya pushed down her alarm, and affected a look of annoyance. "The man who wanted to cut out my eyes drained my chakra with transfer seals until I was barely conscious before he took the blindfold off; I imagine he was afraid I'd be able to do something to him otherwise."

Sasuke looked at her intently. "Your Mangekyo sharingan didn't do anything unusual to help you escape?"

Amaya shook her head. "No, it's been three years and I still can't figure out what mine do," she lied. "I remember all the stuff from the scrolls you showed me, but nothing like that has happened." _And dead friends appearing out of thin air isn't written anywhere IN those scrolls! Maybe even the person who wrote them didn't know everything about the sharingan?_ Sasuke already knew about her Mangekyo, but until she understood herself what her eyes had done, she wasn't comfortable telling him.

"I see. Well, you did unlock the Mangekyo at an incredibly young age. Its power may simply require more maturity. Come, let's get back to camp."

Breathing a quiet sigh of relief that his suspicion seemed to be deflected, Amaya followed Sasuke back to camp, feeling tired enough to sleep again.

* * *

Amaya's band travelled for another day before Hanabi brought them to a halt with a hand signal. "Huh. Looks like your sensei heard you were in trouble," the pale-eyed woman commented to Amaya and Kaede.

"What makes you say that?" Kaede responded.

"Because she's two kilometers down the road and headed this way with Maito Gai, Rock Lee and what looks like as many Hyuuga branch jounin as she could shake loose on short notice."

Hanabi's lips quirked into a smile a moment later. "Ko just spotted us. Brace yourselves."

A dust cloud crested the hill ahead of them and approached rapidly, a pair of green blurs at its forefront. Reactions were varied. Hanabi's team just took a few prudent steps back. Sasuke sighed and resolutely ignored the approaching duo. Kiran just looked perplexed as he watched the approach of Lee and Gai. "Are they yelling something about youth?" the blond asked no one in particular.

Amaya and Kaede exchanged a resigned look. "It's good to be home," Kaede commented.

"Mostly," Amaya corrected. Then they were subjected to a green whirlwind of hugs and teary greetings. It didn't take Tenten-sensei long to catch up to them, the Hyuuga jounin at her heels. She headed straight for her students, her presence quelling some of Lee and Gai's boisterousness.

"Amaya, Kaede." Tenten said calmly, managing a moment of dignity before sweeping both of them up in a fierce hug. "I'm so glad you're okay. You're okay, right?" She drew back a bit, fussing over them with the intensity of a mother hen.

Kaede hesitated in her response, shooting Amaya a glance that Tenten didn't miss. "I'm fine," Amaya insisted, forcing a smile.

"Kiran found me before I came to any harm," Kaede added, slipping her hand into her fiancé's.

"Hmm, I see. You picked well then. A husband who comes through in a pinch is always nice."

From the corner of her eye Amaya noticed that Gai had maneuvered Sasuke away from the rest of the group, and was speaking quietly to him. The older Uchiha stiffened, clearly unhappy with whatever was being said. Amaya looked back at Tenten to see sadness and concern in her sensei's eyes. "I'm sorry, Amaya. This is a lousy time for more bad news, but there's something you need to hear before we get back to Konohagakure. There was an attack on the village just before we left, and…"

* * *

_Author's Note: Bit of a short chapter here, just bringing the arc to an end. Last chapter we hit 200 reviews, and this chapter brings the story above 200k words. Yay for landmarks! Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback._


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